Massacre in Gaza: Updates Bulletin ~ Window Into Palestine

CO-CONSPIRATORS

Israeli Minister: No Cease-Fire
As the airstrikes continued Tuesday, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit told Israel Radio, "
There is no room for a cease-fire."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
12/31/world/middleeast/31mideast.html?_r=1&hp

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, center, visits a construction site where a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza hit Monday, killing one Israeli and injuring seven, during his tour in the southern city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008. Israeli aircraft kept up a relentless string of assaults on Hamas-ruled Gaza on Tuesday, smashing a government complex, security installations and the home of a top militant commander as thousands of Israeli ground troops, backed by tanks and artillery, massed along the border, waiting for a signal to attack. From AP Photo by TSAFRIR ABAYOV.

Barak

Barak: 'All-Out War'
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared "an all-out war against Hamas" on Monday as fighter jets raked the Gaza Strip with bombs for the third straight day. . . . "Anything affiliated with Hamas is a legitimate target."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122900373.html

Israeli Electioneering with Bombs
[B]y launching the attack when many foreign reporters were away from the region for the holidays, the government hoped to be able to inflict the maximum damage on Gaza before the media could catch up.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10074.shtml

Sealed Off
Israel has not allowed foreign reporters into Gaza since the operation began Saturday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122900373.html

Protestors hold placards in front of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's vacation compound in Kailua, Hawaii December 30, 2008, during a protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza. From Reuters Pictures by REUTERS.

Protestors hold placards during a demonstration against the Israeli attacks on Gaza as the motorcade of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama drives past in Kailua, Hawaii December 30, 2008. From Reuters Pictures by REUTERS.

Protest at Obama's Motorcade in Hawaii

Republicrats
Washington, as is its wont, blames the pro-Hamas Palestinians, with Obama and Bush singing from the same AIPAC hymn sheet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree
/2008/dec/30/gaza-hamas-palestinians-israel1

NYT Editorial
Israel must defend itself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12
/30/opinion/30tue1.html?ref=opinion

ANATOMY OF A WAR CRIME

Palestinians clean the bodies of 4-year-old Lama Hamdan and her sister Haya before their funeral in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008. Israel on Tuesday rejected any truce with Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip before cross-border rocket fire ceased and said its air strikes, the fiercest in decades, heralded "long weeks of military action". In Beit Hanoun, the two sisters were killed in a air raid as they were taking out the trash near their home, medical workers said. From Reuters Pictures by REUTERS.

Palestinian relatives of 4-year-old Lama Hamdan mourn near her body during her funeral in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008. Israel on Tuesday rejected any truce with Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip before cross-border rocket fire ceased and said its air strikes, the fiercest in decades, heralded "long weeks of military action". In Beit Hanoun, two sisters, one of them Lama Hamdan, were killed in an air raid as they were taking out the trash near their home, medical workers said. From Reuters Pictures by REUTERS.

Bodies of 4-year-old Lama Hamdan and her sister Haya in Beit Hanoun

Israel Attacked During Lull
Palestinians in Gaza believed Israel had called a 48-hour "lull" in retaliatory attacks with Hamas when Israeli warplanes launched a massive bombardment of militant installations in the Gaza Strip, a U.N. official said Monday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/
article/ALeqM5jEsKgyiG7aSlVT6qkanjs67ZfeCAD95COK280\

Previous Attacks
Israel's four-day bombing campaign in Gaza is the latest in a series of military operations dating back to 2006, when Hamas won the Palestinian elections. . . . They have claimed hundreds of Palestinian lives.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008
/dec/30/israelandthepalestinians-middleeast

Palestinians look at destroyed houses after an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008. Israel rejected any truce with Hamas Islamists on Tuesday and said it was ready for "long weeks of action" on a fourth day of the fiercest air offensive in the Gaza Strip in decades. From Reuters Pictures by REUTERS.

Smoke rises from an Israeli missile strike on a target in Gaza City,Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008. Israeli aircraft kept up a relentless string of assaults on Hamas-ruled Gaza on Tuesday, smashing a government complex, security installations and the home of a top militant commander as thousands of Israeli ground troops, backed by tanks and artillery, massed along the border, waiting for a signal to attack. From AP Photo by KHALIL HAMRA.

Tutu: 'Akin to War Crimes'
"In the context of total aerial supremacy, in which one side in a conflict deploys lethal aircraft against opponents with no means of defending themselves, the bombardment bears all the hallmarks of war crimes."
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_
id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20081228135838626C247461

Gallery Funeral in Gaza: Palestinians attend funeral of five young Balalusha sisters

Samira Balousha carries her surving child, Mohamad while crying over the body of her daughter, Jawahar, during the funeral

Five Murdered Sisters
Five Balousha girls -- Tahir, 17; Ikram, 14; Samar, 12; Dina, 8; and Jawaher, 4 -- were dead, swelling the list of Palestinian civilians killed in three days of Israeli airstrikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
http://www.latimes.com/news
/nationworld/world/la-fg-civilians30-2008dec30,0,1804115.story

Mother's Response
"Does my 12-days-old baby have a rocket with her?" Samira demanded. "Or my son, does he have a missile with him? Or did my daughters have AK-47s beside them? Why did they target them?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122902490.html

Father's Response
"If the dead here were Israelis, you would see the whole world condemning and responding. But why is no one condemning this action? Aren't we human beings?" he said. "We are living in our land, we didn't take it from the Israelis. We are fighting for our rights. One day we will get them back."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
world/2008/dec/30/israel-and-the-palestinians-middle-east

Students
Eight students, ages 18 to 20, were killed while waiting for a U.N. bus to take them home, and 19 were injured.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122902490.html

Emergency Services
Gaza's emergency services are crippled by the airstrikes and power outages caused in part by an Israeli blockade.
http://www.latimes.com/
news/nationworld/world/la-fg-civilians30-2008dec30,0,1804115.story

"Dignity", a boat damaged by an Israeli naval ship, arrives at the port city of Tyre in south Lebanon December 30, 2008. A small boat carrying international activists with aid for Gaza docked in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Tuesday after a clash with an Israeli naval ship forced it to divert to Lebanon. From Reuters Pictures by REUTERS.

Israeli Navy Rams Aid Ship
The crew and passengers were hoping to treat some of those injured in four days of the Israeli air strikes, with hospitals in the territory overwhelmed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/
2008/dec/30/israel-gaza-aid-ship

Amnesty Denounces Strangulation
"It is utterly unacceptable for Israel to continue to purposefully deprive 1.5 million people of food and other basic necessities."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122902490.html

Basic Goods
"The most basic goods are not available in the shops."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122900373.html

MYTH-BUSTING: HAMAS ROCKETS

Not Even Comparable
During the last seven years, 14 Israelis have been killed by mostly homemade rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, while more than 5,000 Palestinians were killed by Israel with some of the most advanced US-supplied armaments in the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
commentisfree/2008/dec/30/israel-and-the-palestinians-middle-east

Right to Resist
Like any occupied people, the Palestinians have the right to resist, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But there is no right of defence for an illegal occupation - there is an obligation to withdraw comprehensively.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
commentisfree/2008/dec/30/israel-and-the-palestinians-middle-east

WORLDWIDE PROTEST AND RESISTANCE

P.A. Thoroughly Discredited
"I am originally Fatah, and my voice will always be Fatah. But Hamas is resisting, and we are a nation under occupation. I support the resistance."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2008/12/30/fatah_sidelined_hamas_gains_status_as_principal_resistance/