END THE WAR! END THE OCCUPATION!
END STATE TERROR! END AMERICAN EMPIRE!
ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, condemns all attacks on civilians, whether by Israel, the Palestinians or Hezbollah. We recognize Israel’s ever-repressive Occupation as the main source of conflict and instability in our region. Had Israel taken the many opportunities it had to secure a just peace, the peoples of the region would never have reached this point of despair and futile violence. Israel believes it can achieve “quiet” and normalcy through military power while retaining its Occupation, encouraged and protected by the US. This is the true convergence: Israel’s Occupation in return for an active Israeli role in expanding American Empire.
Like Russian babushka dolls, Israel’s disproportionate attacks on both Gaza and Lebanon contain an agenda within an agenda, hidden within the pretext of freeing Israeli soldiers.
In its vicious attacks on Gaza in which 3000 houses were demolished in the second Intifada and as a months-long campaign of starving the local population into submission continues, Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinian people and destroy any resistance to the imposition of an apartheid regime. This is the only plausible explanation for Israel’s delegitimization of the democratically-elected Hamas government which had been moving steadily towards a negotiated two-state settlement with Israel, and for its campaign to physically liquidate Hamas leaders, in contravention of international law. The massive toll in innocent Palestinian civilian lives is to be condemned. ICAHD will work with the international courts to bring the military the political perpetrators to justice.
Although Hezbollah contributes little to the Palestinian cause and only adds to regional violence, it is merely a product of Israeli refusal to negotiate with Syria, despite repeated overtures. By creating straw enemies like Hezbollah, Israel creates the violence and instability that allows it to retain its Occupation. Hezbollah and Israel share equally in the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians in both Lebanon and Israel.
Israel, of course, could not have reached this point without American and European complicity. Indeed, American refusal to countenance a ceasefire only affirms Israel’s role as its military surrogate in the Middle East. Their shared aim is a Pax Americana over the region for which Israel will be allowed to keep its settlements.
The war must end immediately and all UN resolutions be implemented. All attacks on civilians must end immediately and permanently. Israel, which holds some 9000 Palestinian and Arab political prisoners, must negotiate a meaningful exchange in return for its captured soldiers. Above all, Israel must realize that there is no military solution to the conflict in our region. Relinquishing its Occupation in favor of genuine negotiations with the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese is the only guarantee of Israel’s security. It must recognize that America is not its “friend,” and that an Occupation sustained only if Israel does America’s dirty work will not offer it the peace and security it craves. A total end to the Occupation is Israel’s only path to peace and the only way to ensure that the Middle East conflict does not become a global conflagration.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
What I wrote on Tony Blair's site 27.7.06
Sir. I know you care. I know you're working hard on this. But at what point will you consider pulling out of the Triad in order to end Israeli war crimes?
>
Israel, my country, is an occupying, colonial power and the system is now worse than apartheid (I lived there for years and here for 25 yrs).
Friends do not let friends drive drunk; the juvenile delinquent funerals are only beginning. We need tough love not appeasement. We desperately need saving from ourselves, and forcing back to the negotiation table. We are too high up trees to get there alone. Please save us -- you know talking is inevitable, and super urgent before the region is aflame and more good human beings die savagely. You (maybe Ted Kennedy and Wolfensohn, too) are amongst the few who have the position to impose it. Before we all go out with a bang. Or whimper. Save us from Bush. Save us from our military's win-lose idiocy. Save us from militarism's curse. Escalation, fascism, racism & slaughter.
>
Israel, my country, is an occupying, colonial power and the system is now worse than apartheid (I lived there for years and here for 25 yrs).
Friends do not let friends drive drunk; the juvenile delinquent funerals are only beginning. We need tough love not appeasement. We desperately need saving from ourselves, and forcing back to the negotiation table. We are too high up trees to get there alone. Please save us -- you know talking is inevitable, and super urgent before the region is aflame and more good human beings die savagely. You (maybe Ted Kennedy and Wolfensohn, too) are amongst the few who have the position to impose it. Before we all go out with a bang. Or whimper. Save us from Bush. Save us from our military's win-lose idiocy. Save us from militarism's curse. Escalation, fascism, racism & slaughter.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Amnesty International: Letter to Rice in Rome
Open Letter: 26 July 2006
Lebanon/Israel: Open letter to foreign ministers meeting in Rome
Dear Foreign Minister,
I write to you on the occasion of this Wednesday’s governmental meeting in Rome, called in response to the current conflict involving Israel and Lebanon.
Civilians on both sides of the Israel/Lebanon border have borne the brunt of this conflict. In Israel, at least 17 civilians have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured by rockets fired into civilian areas of Israel by Hizbullah, while in Lebanon Israeli air attacks and bombardments have killed more than 300 civilians, more than a third of them children, and wounded thousands. More than half a million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli bombings and threats.
Israel is imposing a naval and air blockade of Lebanon. It has attacked Beirut’s airport and bombarded the main road out of the country to Syria and dozens of other roads, bridges and other infrastructure, as well as residential areas. The humanitarian situation for civilians remaining in the south is worsening by the day, including in the southern port city of Tyre, which is also having to cope with a large influx of people internally displaced from villages in the south of the country. The destruction by Israel of electricity power plants and other infrastructure has left hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities without the necessary resources and supplies at a time when they have to cope with a massive increase in casualties. Ambulances and rescue crews have reportedly been attacked by Israeli forces as they have tried to reach victims of the bombing.
Some foreign nationals caught up in the conflict have been evacuated through the intervention of their home governments but, as international humanitarian agencies warn, the civilian population of Lebanon now faces a humanitarian disaster.
The international community must ensure that Hizbullah and Israel comply with international humanitarian law. The evidence so far, including the pattern of attacks, the extent of civilian casualties and statements by the parties indicates that serious violations of the laws of war have been committed and continue to be committed by both sides in the conflict.
Intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects and launching indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks are war crimes. All states have an obligation to ensure that allegations of war crimes are investigated promptly. Perpetrators must be brought to justice, and victims and their families must receive reparations. This is the responsibility of all state parties to the Geneva Conventions, not only the parties to the conflict.
The swift and effective nature of the foreign evacuations contrasts sharply with the slowness with which the international community is addressing this burgeoning crisis. At the Rome meeting, key governments must show greater determination to press the parties to the conflict to end attacks on civilians and ensure respect for international humanitarian law.
In particular, Amnesty International calls on your government to:
Make clear to the parties to the conflict, at the highest level, that it is a war crime to target civilians or civilian objects or to carry out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks and that they are obligated to conduct criminal investigations of anyone suspected of serious violations of international humanitarian law during the conflict.
Press the parties to the conflict immediately to establish and guarantee humanitarian corridors for the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the conflict and safe passage for humanitarian workers.
Call for the urgent dispatch of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), established under Article 90 of Protocol I relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I ), to investigate incidents where serious violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Protocol are alleged to have taken place. Scrutiny by the IHFFC will be essential to establish the facts independently and authoritatively. It can also act as a deterrent against further abuses by the parties to the conflict.
Pending the establishment of such mechanism, ensure that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has the necessary resources to monitor, report on and document comprehensively abuses committed by both Hizbullah and Israel.
Call for the convening of a meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to decide on measures to ensure compliance by the parties with international humanitarian law.
Suspend all sales and transfer of arms and military equipment to the parties to the conflict and ensure adequate oversight arrangements are in place to prevent such transfers, and support a UN Security Council arms embargo.
We call on you to act expeditiously to ensure the protection of civilians in Lebanon and Israel, bring the parties into compliance with international humanitarian law, and ensure that there is no impunity for perpetrators of war crimes in this conflict.
Sincerely,
Irene Khan
Secretary General
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org
For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org
Lebanon/Israel: Open letter to foreign ministers meeting in Rome
Dear Foreign Minister,
I write to you on the occasion of this Wednesday’s governmental meeting in Rome, called in response to the current conflict involving Israel and Lebanon.
Civilians on both sides of the Israel/Lebanon border have borne the brunt of this conflict. In Israel, at least 17 civilians have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured by rockets fired into civilian areas of Israel by Hizbullah, while in Lebanon Israeli air attacks and bombardments have killed more than 300 civilians, more than a third of them children, and wounded thousands. More than half a million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli bombings and threats.
Israel is imposing a naval and air blockade of Lebanon. It has attacked Beirut’s airport and bombarded the main road out of the country to Syria and dozens of other roads, bridges and other infrastructure, as well as residential areas. The humanitarian situation for civilians remaining in the south is worsening by the day, including in the southern port city of Tyre, which is also having to cope with a large influx of people internally displaced from villages in the south of the country. The destruction by Israel of electricity power plants and other infrastructure has left hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities without the necessary resources and supplies at a time when they have to cope with a massive increase in casualties. Ambulances and rescue crews have reportedly been attacked by Israeli forces as they have tried to reach victims of the bombing.
Some foreign nationals caught up in the conflict have been evacuated through the intervention of their home governments but, as international humanitarian agencies warn, the civilian population of Lebanon now faces a humanitarian disaster.
The international community must ensure that Hizbullah and Israel comply with international humanitarian law. The evidence so far, including the pattern of attacks, the extent of civilian casualties and statements by the parties indicates that serious violations of the laws of war have been committed and continue to be committed by both sides in the conflict.
Intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects and launching indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks are war crimes. All states have an obligation to ensure that allegations of war crimes are investigated promptly. Perpetrators must be brought to justice, and victims and their families must receive reparations. This is the responsibility of all state parties to the Geneva Conventions, not only the parties to the conflict.
The swift and effective nature of the foreign evacuations contrasts sharply with the slowness with which the international community is addressing this burgeoning crisis. At the Rome meeting, key governments must show greater determination to press the parties to the conflict to end attacks on civilians and ensure respect for international humanitarian law.
In particular, Amnesty International calls on your government to:
Make clear to the parties to the conflict, at the highest level, that it is a war crime to target civilians or civilian objects or to carry out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks and that they are obligated to conduct criminal investigations of anyone suspected of serious violations of international humanitarian law during the conflict.
Press the parties to the conflict immediately to establish and guarantee humanitarian corridors for the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the conflict and safe passage for humanitarian workers.
Call for the urgent dispatch of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), established under Article 90 of Protocol I relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I ), to investigate incidents where serious violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Protocol are alleged to have taken place. Scrutiny by the IHFFC will be essential to establish the facts independently and authoritatively. It can also act as a deterrent against further abuses by the parties to the conflict.
Pending the establishment of such mechanism, ensure that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has the necessary resources to monitor, report on and document comprehensively abuses committed by both Hizbullah and Israel.
Call for the convening of a meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to decide on measures to ensure compliance by the parties with international humanitarian law.
Suspend all sales and transfer of arms and military equipment to the parties to the conflict and ensure adequate oversight arrangements are in place to prevent such transfers, and support a UN Security Council arms embargo.
We call on you to act expeditiously to ensure the protection of civilians in Lebanon and Israel, bring the parties into compliance with international humanitarian law, and ensure that there is no impunity for perpetrators of war crimes in this conflict.
Sincerely,
Irene Khan
Secretary General
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org
For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org
Ms. Rice - Stop the War Crimes!
Jerusalem, Monday 24th July, 9.00 p.m.
Prof. Jeff Halper, Co-ordinator of The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (http://www.icahd.org/) and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee this year (nominated by the Quakers), holding aloft a sign outside her hotel in Jerusalem this evening, demanding that US Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice, newly arrived here (finally) on shuttle diplomacy, stop the war crimes Israel is committing. Rice had said in Washington that "As to the timing of this, look, yes, I could have gotten on a plane and rushed over and started shuttling, and it wouldn't have been clear what I was shuttling to do. " We would respectfully suggest, Madame Secretary, that you could have been shuttling for the past two weeks trying to save lives. Stopping Israel from destabilising the whole region, pushing us all nearer to the edge. Instead, you stayed away while the whole world went up in smoke and thousands are homeless, with future lives in shreds. Not to mention anyone who still didn't hate us, now doing so. Doesn't anyone out there understand how terrorism is fuelled by all this s***? Whether you want to call them terrorists or freedom fighters or militants, seems to me nothing more terrorising than F16s raining phosphorus and cluster bombs.
Well you can see the riot police were all over us. We were about 60 people, with a dozen or so of them. We had four arrests - they were really violent, pushing, shoving, grabbing. Doing everything to get us away from the hotel lobby area. Not before the press there came in for photos (helping to keep it less violent, too) and an AP TV interview. "Why have you come here?" asked the AP cameraman. "Because she has to stop it. These war crimes. We see it all on TV. It has to stop. The Occupation, the bombings, the violence. It's just creating more and more hatred and terror. I came to say it's not in my name..." We even shouted all the slogans extra loud when we saw that the main TV station was doing a live link-up at the time of the 9 pm News. Hope it got onto the screens and into Israeli homes. Maybe make them think some of them...
Prof. Jeff Halper, Co-ordinator of The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (http://www.icahd.org/) and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee this year (nominated by the Quakers), holding aloft a sign outside her hotel in Jerusalem this evening, demanding that US Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice, newly arrived here (finally) on shuttle diplomacy, stop the war crimes Israel is committing. Rice had said in Washington that "As to the timing of this, look, yes, I could have gotten on a plane and rushed over and started shuttling, and it wouldn't have been clear what I was shuttling to do. " We would respectfully suggest, Madame Secretary, that you could have been shuttling for the past two weeks trying to save lives. Stopping Israel from destabilising the whole region, pushing us all nearer to the edge. Instead, you stayed away while the whole world went up in smoke and thousands are homeless, with future lives in shreds. Not to mention anyone who still didn't hate us, now doing so. Doesn't anyone out there understand how terrorism is fuelled by all this s***? Whether you want to call them terrorists or freedom fighters or militants, seems to me nothing more terrorising than F16s raining phosphorus and cluster bombs.
Well you can see the riot police were all over us. We were about 60 people, with a dozen or so of them. We had four arrests - they were really violent, pushing, shoving, grabbing. Doing everything to get us away from the hotel lobby area. Not before the press there came in for photos (helping to keep it less violent, too) and an AP TV interview. "Why have you come here?" asked the AP cameraman. "Because she has to stop it. These war crimes. We see it all on TV. It has to stop. The Occupation, the bombings, the violence. It's just creating more and more hatred and terror. I came to say it's not in my name..." We even shouted all the slogans extra loud when we saw that the main TV station was doing a live link-up at the time of the 9 pm News. Hope it got onto the screens and into Israeli homes. Maybe make them think some of them...
Stop the Killing. Start negotiations now. So we chanted, "Peretz. Peretz. Saar habitahon. Kama yeladot ratzahta ad ha yom?" (Peretz, Minister of Defence. How many little girls have you killed to date?)
Difficult to find the energy, because of the violence, and the emotion of all the anger and fury at this. 
And now we're having weekly large demos in Tel Aviv and daily vigils at 6.00 pm outside the Prime Minister's office. Hope it grows. There again, hope soon there will be no need for it. Negotiations? Please God so.
From Every Mountainside, Let Freedom Ring!!
Monday, 24th July 2006
Is it only coincidence that last month I was in Birmingham Alabama (at the Presbyterian General Assembly, where the Presbyterians voted to keep on with the whole selective divestment issue from industries which support the Occupation). We went to the Civil Rights Institute where Martin Luther King's message had us in tears, yet again.... "From every mountainside, let freedom ring!" Is it only coincidence that I hadn't had time until today to go through my photos of that trip?
I came across them when looking for a photo of Saturday's anti war demonstration. Lebanon, I dedicate that visit and these photos to you. So that any Americans who come across this site - Jews, Christians, Moslems or others, should remember what their moral compasses should be.
And here is Saturday's demonstration. The third major one we've held, but the first to hit over the 1,000 mark. Here you see Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom and a past member of Knesset, together with Israeli-Palestinian members Jamal Zahalke and Mohammed Barakeh.
We're demonstrating tonight in front of the hotel where Condoleezza Rice will be having dinner with our Foreign Minister. We have daily vigils too now, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. You may not see it on the News, but we are trying to be heard. We have written letters and notices to Ms. Rice, demanding she work to stop this madness and if she hasn't come here to do so, then she should go home...
--
Posted by Angela Jerusalem to Peace in our Time? at 7/24/2006 05:08:00 AM
Is it only coincidence that last month I was in Birmingham Alabama (at the Presbyterian General Assembly, where the Presbyterians voted to keep on with the whole selective divestment issue from industries which support the Occupation). We went to the Civil Rights Institute where Martin Luther King's message had us in tears, yet again.... "From every mountainside, let freedom ring!" Is it only coincidence that I hadn't had time until today to go through my photos of that trip?
I came across them when looking for a photo of Saturday's anti war demonstration. Lebanon, I dedicate that visit and these photos to you. So that any Americans who come across this site - Jews, Christians, Moslems or others, should remember what their moral compasses should be.
And here is Saturday's demonstration. The third major one we've held, but the first to hit over the 1,000 mark. Here you see Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom and a past member of Knesset, together with Israeli-Palestinian members Jamal Zahalke and Mohammed Barakeh.
We're demonstrating tonight in front of the hotel where Condoleezza Rice will be having dinner with our Foreign Minister. We have daily vigils too now, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. You may not see it on the News, but we are trying to be heard. We have written letters and notices to Ms. Rice, demanding she work to stop this madness and if she hasn't come here to do so, then she should go home...
--
Posted by Angela Jerusalem to Peace in our Time? at 7/24/2006 05:08:00 AM
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
The Spirit of the King David by Tom Segev
The Spirit of the King David
Tom Segev
The terror attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was in its day the equivalent of the Twin Towers; yesterday was its 60th anniversary. There are two historic plaques at the hotel, one of whose wings was used by the British Mandate authority. On one of the plaques, which has been hanging there for some time, a few words note the terror attack: "On July 22, 1946, the Etzel underground bombed the southern wing." The action is attributed to Etzel alone, but there is no condemnation. "Underground" generally has a positive connotation.
The unveiling of the other plaque this week was meant to cap an academic conference held at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center on the issue of who is a freedom fighter and who is a terrorist. It was quite a week to clarify such a question. They can be distinguished by organizational affiliation, goals, targets, means of combat and mode of operation. They all assume that a freedom fighter is a good person and a terrorist is a bad one. Nearly every terrorist defines himself as a freedom fighter, and vice versa: freedom fighters are usually defined as terrorists. So was Begin. He invested a lot of effort to convince history that he was not a terrorist. Among other things, he emphasized that his organization did not harm civilians. There's a thesis that could serve as an historic lesson from a moral standpoint: not harming civilians.
The new plaque identifies the perpetrators of the attack as "Etzel fighters." It's important for them to emphasize that they acted "under orders from the Hebrew rebel movement," in other words, the Hagannah, among others. They called the hotel switchboard, the editorial offices of the Palestine Post, and the French Embassy (presumably they meant the consulate) "to prevent casualties." In other words, they sought a terrorist attack without casualties, but something went wrong. Twenty-five minutes went by and then "for some reason" the British did not evacuate the building "and as a result" 91 people were "regrettably" killed. There were 28 British, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews and five others. To emphasize the military aspect of the operation, the plaque notes that one of the Etzel people was killed "in an exchange of fire."
The British government is demanding the plaque's removal. Her Majesty's ambassador and the consul have written to the mayor of Jerusalem that such an act of terror cannot be honored, even if it was preceded by a warning. To this day, it is not clear what made the bombing's planners believe the British would evacuate the building. Would Benjamin Netanyahu, as prime minister, have ordered his bureau evacuated on the basis of telephone threat from a Palestinian terror group?
Netanyahu spoke at the conference. The difference between a terrorist operation and a legitimate military action is expressed, he said, in the fact that the terrorists intend to harm civilians whereas legitimate combatants try to avoid that. According to that theory, the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by a Palestinian organization is a legitimate military operation, and the bombing of Dresden, Hanoi, Haifa or Beirut is a war crime. Of course this is not what Netanyahu meant. He learned only this from the bombing of the hotel: that the Arabs are bad and we are good. Arab actions starting in 1920 and through the Iranian nuclear plan reflect, in his words, "a terrorist mentality." Israel, on the other hand, only harms civilians by accident or when there is no alternative. For example, when terrorists hide among civilians.
The historic truth is different: In the 60 years since the attack at the King David Hotel, Israel has hurt some two million civilians, including 750,000 who lost their homes in 1948, another quarter million Palestinians who were forced to leave the West Bank in the Six-Day War and hundreds of thousands of Egyptian civilians who were expelled from the cities along the Suez Canal during the War of Attrition. And now tens of thousands of Lebanese villagers are being forced to abandon their homes, and air force pilots are once again bombing Beirut and other cities. Hundreds of civilians have been killed. Regrettably. It's all in the spirit of the King David Hotel. One can always say there was a mishap.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=741434
Tom Segev
The terror attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was in its day the equivalent of the Twin Towers; yesterday was its 60th anniversary. There are two historic plaques at the hotel, one of whose wings was used by the British Mandate authority. On one of the plaques, which has been hanging there for some time, a few words note the terror attack: "On July 22, 1946, the Etzel underground bombed the southern wing." The action is attributed to Etzel alone, but there is no condemnation. "Underground" generally has a positive connotation.
The unveiling of the other plaque this week was meant to cap an academic conference held at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center on the issue of who is a freedom fighter and who is a terrorist. It was quite a week to clarify such a question. They can be distinguished by organizational affiliation, goals, targets, means of combat and mode of operation. They all assume that a freedom fighter is a good person and a terrorist is a bad one. Nearly every terrorist defines himself as a freedom fighter, and vice versa: freedom fighters are usually defined as terrorists. So was Begin. He invested a lot of effort to convince history that he was not a terrorist. Among other things, he emphasized that his organization did not harm civilians. There's a thesis that could serve as an historic lesson from a moral standpoint: not harming civilians.
The new plaque identifies the perpetrators of the attack as "Etzel fighters." It's important for them to emphasize that they acted "under orders from the Hebrew rebel movement," in other words, the Hagannah, among others. They called the hotel switchboard, the editorial offices of the Palestine Post, and the French Embassy (presumably they meant the consulate) "to prevent casualties." In other words, they sought a terrorist attack without casualties, but something went wrong. Twenty-five minutes went by and then "for some reason" the British did not evacuate the building "and as a result" 91 people were "regrettably" killed. There were 28 British, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews and five others. To emphasize the military aspect of the operation, the plaque notes that one of the Etzel people was killed "in an exchange of fire."
The British government is demanding the plaque's removal. Her Majesty's ambassador and the consul have written to the mayor of Jerusalem that such an act of terror cannot be honored, even if it was preceded by a warning. To this day, it is not clear what made the bombing's planners believe the British would evacuate the building. Would Benjamin Netanyahu, as prime minister, have ordered his bureau evacuated on the basis of telephone threat from a Palestinian terror group?
Netanyahu spoke at the conference. The difference between a terrorist operation and a legitimate military action is expressed, he said, in the fact that the terrorists intend to harm civilians whereas legitimate combatants try to avoid that. According to that theory, the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by a Palestinian organization is a legitimate military operation, and the bombing of Dresden, Hanoi, Haifa or Beirut is a war crime. Of course this is not what Netanyahu meant. He learned only this from the bombing of the hotel: that the Arabs are bad and we are good. Arab actions starting in 1920 and through the Iranian nuclear plan reflect, in his words, "a terrorist mentality." Israel, on the other hand, only harms civilians by accident or when there is no alternative. For example, when terrorists hide among civilians.
The historic truth is different: In the 60 years since the attack at the King David Hotel, Israel has hurt some two million civilians, including 750,000 who lost their homes in 1948, another quarter million Palestinians who were forced to leave the West Bank in the Six-Day War and hundreds of thousands of Egyptian civilians who were expelled from the cities along the Suez Canal during the War of Attrition. And now tens of thousands of Lebanese villagers are being forced to abandon their homes, and air force pilots are once again bombing Beirut and other cities. Hundreds of civilians have been killed. Regrettably. It's all in the spirit of the King David Hotel. One can always say there was a mishap.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=741434
Why do they hate us? asks Yair Lapid on YNet today!!!
The well-known TV talkshow host and journalist, Yair Lapid, (also son of a recent Member of Knesset and Minister) has asked -- with horrifying naivete -- in his column published also in English on Y-Net: "Why do they hate us?" As one answer, I want to publish a letter I received about a week ago, from a friend who lives in the States. It speaks for itself. (I put some of it on the talkback of Y-Net...)
He says:
"Unfortunately, the editor deleted my main point which is: focusing on
Israeli soldiers not Palestinians and Lebanese civilian casualties and
accepting Israel right “to defend itself” without acknowledging the
right of others to defend themselves amounts to selective morality.
--
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=1e809abe-62ac-47b1-9844-9b3204207541
Editorial's Use Of Word 'kidnapping' Is Wrong
To The Editor Of The Day:
Published on 7/18/2006
As a member of an American delegation that interviewed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and others last February (www.cnionline.org), I am familiar with recent Lebanese grievances.
These include Israeli abduction and imprisonment of several Lebanese. Israel continues to occupy three sectors of Lebanese land overlooking the Litani River, and it frequently violates Lebanese airspace. Israel refuses to share a map of the 140,000 mines it left behind from its 20-year occupation. Several Lebanese civilians have been killed or maimed from these mines. During our visit, Israeli soldiers entered the south and shot and killed a 15-year-old Lebanese shepard. Such incursions are not uncommon.
None of the above were mentioned in the editorial titled “A widening conflict,” published July 14. Your term “kidnapping” is inaccurate. Capturing soldiers who are enforcing a blockade to starve the Gaza population or while patrolling occupied Lebanese territories is legitimate resistance. It is Israel that kidnapped numerous civilians, including one third of the Palestinian cabinet. Israel is holding more
than 9,000 Palestinians, including women and children; many were abducted from their homes, held without due process and are subject to torture.
Since the election of Hamas, Israel has intensified punishment against Palestinians, and after its soldiers were targeted, it killed more than 80 Palestinians and 100 Lebanese civilians. It also destroyed bridges, highways, government ministries, power generators and more.
The Day editorial focused on the captured Israeli soldiers with no mention of Lebanese and Palestinian casualties. It supported Israel's right to “defend itself” without acknowledging that Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians whose territories are occupied have a legitimate right to defend themselves.
Terrorism is targeting civilian noncombatants. Readers are smart enough to determine who is struggling for liberation and who is colonizing and terrorizing.
Hassan Fouda
Groton
---
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=171d8ac1-2e01-4994-925b-f1de3c9c8db4
A Widening Conflict
Clashes between Israelis and militant organizations in Gaza and Lebanon run the risk of another Arab-Israeli war.
By Day Staff Writer
Published on 7/14/2006
The conflict in the Middle East is escalating to an alarming degree with attacks and counterattacks this week between Israeli defense forces and the militant organization Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. This strife follows military clashes between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, opening for Israel a second front and raising the disturbing possibility of another Israeli-Arab war.
The situation is typically complicated. The Israeli military reacted to kidnappings of Israeli soldiers. In the more recent incident, Hezbollah crossed the Lebanese border into Galilee and kidnapped two soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces. Israel responded by sending troops into southern Lebanon, shelling the international airport in Beirut and blockading the Lebanese coast.
President Bush says he supports Israel's right to defend itself, but is calling for restraint. As general and ineffectual as this sounds, it is good advice. The price of freeing several IDF soldiers should not be another outright war in the Middle East. It is one thing for Israel to make a show of force to discourage further aggression by the two militant groups, and another to get drawn into a wider conflict, a response that would not be proportionate to the nature of the crisis.
The clashes harm both sides. Hamas, by its shelling of Israeli targets and kidnapping a soldier, has undone the progress it helped achieve in getting Israel out of Gaza. Hezbollah has, in effect, invited Israeli forces back into southern Lebanon. This is a losing situation for everyone.
This development is a shame both for Hezbollah and for Hamas, which have achieved substantial political stature and credibility in Lebanon and in the Palestinian Authority, respectively. Responsible leaders in both those parties must point out the madness of these latest developments. That there are such leaders is evident in the remarks of Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the PLO and a member of Hamas, in an
op-ed article in the Washington Post this week. Prime Minister Haniyeh underscored the importance of serious and fair negotiations with Israel as the only route out of this quagmire. The Olmert government in Israel also must resist the temptation to expand its military operations and focus on a negotiated settlement. That means negotiating with Hamas.
Israel has made its point about its deterrent capacity in the last several days. Now it needs to concentrate on averting a war.
He says:
"Unfortunately, the editor deleted my main point which is: focusing on
Israeli soldiers not Palestinians and Lebanese civilian casualties and
accepting Israel right “to defend itself” without acknowledging the
right of others to defend themselves amounts to selective morality.
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http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=1e809abe-62ac-47b1-9844-9b3204207541
Editorial's Use Of Word 'kidnapping' Is Wrong
To The Editor Of The Day:
Published on 7/18/2006
As a member of an American delegation that interviewed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and others last February (www.cnionline.org), I am familiar with recent Lebanese grievances.
These include Israeli abduction and imprisonment of several Lebanese. Israel continues to occupy three sectors of Lebanese land overlooking the Litani River, and it frequently violates Lebanese airspace. Israel refuses to share a map of the 140,000 mines it left behind from its 20-year occupation. Several Lebanese civilians have been killed or maimed from these mines. During our visit, Israeli soldiers entered the south and shot and killed a 15-year-old Lebanese shepard. Such incursions are not uncommon.
None of the above were mentioned in the editorial titled “A widening conflict,” published July 14. Your term “kidnapping” is inaccurate. Capturing soldiers who are enforcing a blockade to starve the Gaza population or while patrolling occupied Lebanese territories is legitimate resistance. It is Israel that kidnapped numerous civilians, including one third of the Palestinian cabinet. Israel is holding more
than 9,000 Palestinians, including women and children; many were abducted from their homes, held without due process and are subject to torture.
Since the election of Hamas, Israel has intensified punishment against Palestinians, and after its soldiers were targeted, it killed more than 80 Palestinians and 100 Lebanese civilians. It also destroyed bridges, highways, government ministries, power generators and more.
The Day editorial focused on the captured Israeli soldiers with no mention of Lebanese and Palestinian casualties. It supported Israel's right to “defend itself” without acknowledging that Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians whose territories are occupied have a legitimate right to defend themselves.
Terrorism is targeting civilian noncombatants. Readers are smart enough to determine who is struggling for liberation and who is colonizing and terrorizing.
Hassan Fouda
Groton
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http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=171d8ac1-2e01-4994-925b-f1de3c9c8db4
A Widening Conflict
Clashes between Israelis and militant organizations in Gaza and Lebanon run the risk of another Arab-Israeli war.
By Day Staff Writer
Published on 7/14/2006
The conflict in the Middle East is escalating to an alarming degree with attacks and counterattacks this week between Israeli defense forces and the militant organization Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. This strife follows military clashes between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, opening for Israel a second front and raising the disturbing possibility of another Israeli-Arab war.
The situation is typically complicated. The Israeli military reacted to kidnappings of Israeli soldiers. In the more recent incident, Hezbollah crossed the Lebanese border into Galilee and kidnapped two soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces. Israel responded by sending troops into southern Lebanon, shelling the international airport in Beirut and blockading the Lebanese coast.
President Bush says he supports Israel's right to defend itself, but is calling for restraint. As general and ineffectual as this sounds, it is good advice. The price of freeing several IDF soldiers should not be another outright war in the Middle East. It is one thing for Israel to make a show of force to discourage further aggression by the two militant groups, and another to get drawn into a wider conflict, a response that would not be proportionate to the nature of the crisis.
The clashes harm both sides. Hamas, by its shelling of Israeli targets and kidnapping a soldier, has undone the progress it helped achieve in getting Israel out of Gaza. Hezbollah has, in effect, invited Israeli forces back into southern Lebanon. This is a losing situation for everyone.
This development is a shame both for Hezbollah and for Hamas, which have achieved substantial political stature and credibility in Lebanon and in the Palestinian Authority, respectively. Responsible leaders in both those parties must point out the madness of these latest developments. That there are such leaders is evident in the remarks of Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the PLO and a member of Hamas, in an
op-ed article in the Washington Post this week. Prime Minister Haniyeh underscored the importance of serious and fair negotiations with Israel as the only route out of this quagmire. The Olmert government in Israel also must resist the temptation to expand its military operations and focus on a negotiated settlement. That means negotiating with Hamas.
Israel has made its point about its deterrent capacity in the last several days. Now it needs to concentrate on averting a war.
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