A U.S. military plan to ship munitions from a Greek port to a U.S. stockpile in Israel has been canceled due to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Pentagon said on Monday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Attacks
At least 20 Palestinians killed Monday; 900+ in ongoing assault
The death toll in Gaza rose to 20 on Monday when Israeli fighter jets continued shelling targets throughout Jabaliya Refugee Camp into the early evening. A Palestinian paramedic was killed while evacuating the wounded of an earlier strike soon after an Israeli jet fired a missile that scored a direct hit on his ambulance, which exploded.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Offensive continues in Gaza; 917 kill, more than 4260 wounded
The Israeli army continued its offensive against the Gaza Strip for the seventeenth day on Monday, killed twenty-six Palestinians, including 23 civilians, and wounded dozens of residents. At least 917 Palestinians were killed and more than 4260 were injured since the army initiated its attack.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Gaza Suffers Most Intense Bombardment of 18-Day Israeli Assault
Residents of Gaza suffered the most intense bombardment of the 18-day war last night as Israel warplanes carried out strikes throughout the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian death toll is now at least 930. More than 4,000 Palestinians have been injured. 13 Israelis have died over the past 18 days. We speak with journalist Zaki Chehab, author of "Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement."
http://www.democracynow.org/
Video: Intense clashes erupt in Gaza City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - War Crimes - January 12
http://palestinianpundit.
OPT: The Gaza Strip - the past 24 hours
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Israel keeps pounding Gaza, hits children's hospital
Israeli forces have attacked a children's hospital in Gaza in a fourth day of attacks after a UN Security Council call for ceasefire.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.
Clinics destroyed by raids
Israeli warplanes have attacked two fully equipped medical clinics in Gaza, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage, the Christian organisations which fund them reported yesterday. The Catholic relief group Caritas said its clinic in the al-Meghazi area of Gaza had been "completely destroyed" by a missile on Friday, and that 20 nearby homes had been damaged. Because local families had already fled their homes, no one was hurt, Caritas said, but equipment worth $10,000 (£6,700) was lost.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Israel using Gaza as 'test laboratory' for new weapon: medics
AFP - Israel is testing a new "extremely nasty" type of weapon in Gaza, two medics charged as they returned home to Norway Monday after spending 10 days working at a hospital in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Israeli Bullets Hit Home of American Children Trapped in Gaza
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported today that Israeli bullets hit the house of two American children trapped under bombardment by Israel in the Gaza Strip. CAIR has been seeking State Department assistance in evacuating the two children, ages six and three, along with all the other Americans in Gaza. Friends of the family contacted CAIR seeking help. (Photos of the family are available from CAIR.)
http://www.cair.com/
Israeli warplanes level sports club in central Gaza, killing two
American-made Israeli F16 jets bombed a sports club in the central Gaza Strip on Monday night, killing two people and destroying houses that surrounded the club, Palestinian residents told Ma'an on Tuesday. Witnesses said the warplanes leveled the Nuseirat Ahly club in Nuseirat Refugee Camp. A number of others were also injured in the attack. Last week Israeli forces destroyed the International Stadium in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
State Dept: US to evacuate 150 from Gaza
AP - The State Department says it is planning to evacuate about 150 Americans and non-American family members from Gaza, where Israel is continuing major military operations against Hamas militants.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
MP Zahalka: Israeli military abducting as many Gaza youth as possible for information
Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset and head of the parliamentary assembly, Dr. Jamal Zahalka, said Friday that the detainees were moved to a military camp northwest of the Israeli city of Beerseba.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
Retaliation by resistance factions
Palestinian fighters injure three Israeli soldiers in the southern part of the West Bank
Three Israeli soldiers where injured on Tuesday at dawn when Palestinian fighters opened fire at them near the settlement of Kiryat Arba, located between the southern West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Hebron.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
3 Qassams land in Negev
Rockets land in open areas in Sha'ar Hanegev, Eshkol regional councils. No injures reported. Meanwhile, IDF continues Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, hitting over 30 gunmen, 60 targets overnight.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Rocket hits educational institute in Ashkelon
Rocket fired from Gaza lands in grounds of educational institute in Ashkelon Tuesday afternoon; no injuries reported in attack. Eleven rockets, all short and medium range, land in Israel since morning hours.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israeli army 'shot at from Jordan'
Army spokesperson says no one was hurt in attack on Israel-Jordan border.
http://english.aljazeera.net//
Eyewitnesses/Testimonials
Israel threatens homes in Rafah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
"We could hear their bodies burning" Gazans' testimonies raise fears over chemical weapons
Gaza – Ma'an – Everything was on fire; houses, sheds, trees. Bombs, too, were everywhere, and with them came the white clouds. White phosphorous, the doctors are now saying, but that's disputed in Israel.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Displaced and desperate in Gaza
http://english.aljazeera.net/
A Plea From a Teen in Gaza
Today, it is the two weeks of this horrible war. Last Saturday was the worst day of all. When I woke up in the morning one of my friends called. His voice sounded strange when I asked, "How are you?" He answered "Fine, but have you heard any news about any of your friends?"
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Video: Gaza survival
While Israel continues to bombard Gaza, one family describes their struggle to survive in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
I rushed home in the ceasefire. Our baby's due tomorrow
The temporary ceasefire was earlier yesterday, running from 10am until 1pm, so I used the time to rush back to the family house we've evacuated, to pick up blankets, toothbrushes and clothes. I found our area in the al-Karama district of Gaza City completely deserted except for a few people who had gone to inspect their homes. Some of the houses had been set on fire in the overnight clashes.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Barred foreign doctors finally cross into Gaza
After waiting for 11 days at Egypt's border terminal here, several foreign volunteer physicians were finally granted permission today by Egyptian authorities to board a bus headed for Gaza. "I'm not a hero. I'm not a rebel. I'm a doctor and a human," said Dr. Nikolas Dousis-Rassias. Dousis-Rassias and colleague, Dr. Dmitrios Mogni - volunteer physicians with Athens-based Doctors of Peace - crossed into Gaza with a group of nine foreign doctors, including six from France and one from Ireland.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/
A Message from a Gazan to the World
I invite you to come to Gaza and see the Holocaust. Because despite the siege, the barriers, the killing of my people and homes, and the total destruction of our lives by the Israeli occupation, they can not and will not kill the will of our people for equality and justice.
http://www.commondreams.org/
Gaza Boy Recounts House of Death
Speaking to Reuters from his hospital bed in Gaza, the boy recounted how his family came to be herded into the building that was later targeted.
http://www.
War strains Gazans' survival skills
In 17 days of war, Hisham Abu Ramadan has fallen into a new routine. He gets up before dawn and goes to his mosque, not just to pray, but to charge his cell phone, since it's the only place in the neighborhood with a generator. After prayers, he gets in line at a nearby bakery, where as many as 150 people are already waiting to buy bread.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Of Gaza's 876 killed, 186 were children and 61 women
According to Al Mezan's careful monitoring, the IOF has killed at least 876 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of its Operation Cast Lead on 27 December 2008. This number includes at least 186 children and 61 women.This number is restricted to those whom Al Mezan has verified and double-checked.
http://electronicintifada.net/
UNICEF project officer and mother of three copes with Gaza crisis
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Targeting a cup of tea in Gaza
Only a tea cup, a broken chair and some spots of blood were left where a short time before five members of the the Abu Jbarah family had been sitting in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from besieged Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/
'Israel seems to be trying to destroy everything with every weapon it has'
'Last Thursday morning, Israeli tanks and air strikes hit a haphazard building. The tanks destroyed the house, home to more than two families.'
http://www.thenational.ae/
Making bread while the sun shines
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
For Gaza Psychologist, Hope Amid Despair
Jamil sounds different on the second day of the attack. It isn't the occasional voice-obscuring thunder in the background — Israeli shells exploding near his Gaza City apartment. It's a subtler note, a bewildered, despairing flatness I have never heard in the six years that this kind, understated, endlessly resourceful child psychologist has coordinated our center's work with Gaza's psychologically traumatized population.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/
Gazans trapped in no man's land between fire, farmlands
A number of Palestinians - it is not clear how many - are trapped in small enclaves surrounded by Israel Defense Forces positions in the Gaza Strip's peripheral farming areas. The soldiers shoot at anyone who tries to leave the enclaves, they said. These people didn't manage to flee, or decided to stay home when the IDF took over the area.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Special: White Phosphorus and its use in Gaza
Mazen Qumssiya - Arij - White Phosphorus, which ignites spontaneously upon exposure to air, might cause severe burns and injuries to human exposed to it, and might lead to death. It has many military applications, its use as an incendiary being forbidden by International Law but using it a smoke-screen is permitted. There is no watertight division between these two roles, however, and the loophole makes it possible for Israel to use in in populated Gaza areas and claim it is not violating International Law. The same ambiguity had been used before by the US to justify its use in Iraq.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
No room at the graveyard, as Gaza fighting rages on
"We couldn't find anywhere to bury my cousin," Mahmoud al-Zinati said on Tuesday, as he sat on the edge of a tomb in Gaza. "So we've opened the grave of another cousin who was martyred two years ago to bury this one."
http://www.alertnet.org/
Hill of Shame where Gaza bombing is spectator sport
A beauty spot has turned into a vantage point for viewing of Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
Humanitarian appeals and statements
Gaza: UN Official Reports: Horrific Hospital Scenes of Casualties
"(It) is the place of course where you see the most horrific human consequences of this conflict. Among the tragic cases that I saw were a child, six years of age, little or no brain activity, people don't have much hope for her survival; multiple amputee – another little girl; and a pregnant woman who'd lost a leg," he said.
http://www.
UN watchdog condemns war on Gaza
A resolution condemning Israel's military offensive in Gaza has been adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
UN human rights body to send fact-finding mission to Gaza
Canada cast the only negative vote for the non-binding resolution, which received the support of 33 of the Council's 47 members, while 13 countries abstained.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Israeli strikes disproportionate - EU aid chief
Israel's military strikes in the Gaza Strip were disproportionate and breach international law, the European Union's aid chief was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Al-Jazeera Video: The humanitarian crisis continues in Gaza - 13 Jan 09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
UNRWA: Gaza in dire straits
United Nations relief agency spokesman says Gazans are frustrated, despaired; tells of great need for additional humanitarian aid
U.N. Warns of Refugee Crisis in Gaza Strip
According to the United Nations, about 30,000 people are living in schools it sponsors and an estimated 60,000 have fled to the houses of relatives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/
ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza sewage lagoons could collapse - water authority
The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) is concerned that waste water lagoons in the northern Gaza Strip could collapse due to the current fighting between Israel and Hamas.
ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza children increasingly traumatised - specialists
RAMALLAH (WEST BANK) Tuesday, January 13, 2009 (IRIN) - As the Israeli aerial and ground bombardment continues in Gaza, the number of trauma cases is growing, say specialists.
Rights group: Israel using incendiary bombs
Military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich refused to comment directly on whether Israel was using phosphorus, but said the army was "using its munitions in accordance with international law." Israel used white phosphorus in its 34-day war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. The U.S. military in Iraq used the incendiary during a November 2004 operation against insurgents in the city of Fallujah.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
Israel is targeting medics
On 7 January, as Spanish human rights advocate and documentary filmmaker, Alberto Arce, and I accompanied Palestinian medics to retrieve the body of a man shot earlier by invading Israeli forces, we were also shot at as the medics carried the body towards the ambulance. It was in Dawwar Zimmo, eastern Jabaliya, near the area which has been occupied by Israeli soldiers since the land invasion began. Eva Bartlett writes from the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Gaza war comparable to Sabra and Shatila massacre: medics
Israel's offensive in Gaza can be compared to the massacre of Palestinian refugees by Israeli-backed Lebanese militiamen in 1982, two medics said Monday as they returned to Norway after working 10 days at a Gaza hospital. "Gaza in 2009 is becoming a new bloody chapter in Palestinian and Middle Eastern history that is, unfortunately, comparable to Sabra and Shatila," Mads Gilbert told reporters at Oslo's Gardermoen airport, referring to a three-day massacre at two Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut 27 years ago.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Field Update on Gaza
U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator - ochaopt.org - Civilians, notably children who form 56 percent of Gaza's population, are bearing the brunt of the violence. As one of the most densely populated places in the world, more civilians risk being killed or injured if the conflict continues. The parties to conflict must respect the norms of International Humanitarian Law, in particular the principles of distinction and proportionality.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_
Pictures
I have a message for you
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Pictures of the slaughter
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Ceasefire/Truce
Report: Hamas agrees to Turkey troops on Gaza-Egypt border
Hamas sources have said that the Palestinian militant organization would agree to the deployment of Turkish troops along Gaza's border with Egypt, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Gaza tunnels survived despite U.S., Israeli complaints
CAIRO (Reuters) - Tunnels linking Egypt and the Gaza Strip are back in the spotlight as diplomats try to work out an agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The tunnels, a lifeline for Palestinians during months under Israeli and Egyptian siege, have long been a bone of contention between the Egyptian and Israeli governments, even threatening at times good relations between Cairo and Washington.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/
Tunnel-sniffing revolution on Gaza's last frontline
AFP - From radar to fibre optics and sonar to sweat, the quest to find an efficient method of unearthing Gaza's smuggling tunnels has become crucial to achieving a truce in the beleaguered territory.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Hamdan: Some articles in Egyptian initiative do not meet Palestinian aspirations
Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan has underlined that a number of articles in the Egyptian initiative were still "pending" consultations.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Egypt wants Hamas to sign up to truce deal 'now'
AFP - Egypt was on Tuesday holding talks with Hamas on Cairo's Gaza truce proposal, with an official calling for the Islamists to sign up "now" in the hope of announcing a ceasefire before the end of the week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Olmert pushes for Cairo talks, pushes for continued offensive in Gaza
Israel sources reported on Monday that Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is contacting some world leaders telling them that Israel wants to advance towards a diplomatic solution, but in Israel and during meetings in Ashkelon, Olmert said that Israel wants to weaken Hamas and its support by the ongoing war.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Victory over Israel 'closer than ever': Hamas
AFP - The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip said on Monday it was closer than ever to victory in its war against Israel.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
'Gaza has not been broken and Gaza will not fall'
Israeli tanks punched their way toward the heart of Gaza City on Monday in some of the heaviest clashes of the war as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to hit Hamas with an "iron fist" unless it stopped firing rockets. A defiant Hamas meanwhile said it was closer than ever to victory after 17 days of conflict.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
The Collaborators
Egypt to Hamas: Either Accept Truce or Lose Gaza
Egypt has been exerting fierce pressure on Hamas over the past 24 hours to accept its ceasefire proposal, Palestinian sources told Ynet. According to the sources, Cairo warned Hamas that should it refuse to accept the proposal the Israeli army would continue to expand its operation in Gaza, "which in effect would mean an end to Hamas' rule over the coastal enclave it took over in June 2007."
A Hamas delegation is currently in Cairo for the ceasefire talks, but it may return to the Strip on Monday. The Egyptian pressure stems from Israel's preparations for the third phase of "Operation Cast Lead," which Cairo announced will be launched in the coming days and will conclude only after Israeli forces enter Gaza City.
http://almanar.com.lb/
Egypt rejects Arab summit call
Qatar issues a new call for an Arab summit to discuss the worsening situation in Gaza.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200911313292558544.html
Kuwaiti MPs Says Abbas 'Not Welcome' at Eco Summit
A group of 21 Kuwaiti MPs said on Tuesday that former Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose term expired on January 9, was "not welcome" at a planned Arab economic summit next week in Kuwait City, criticizing his response to the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The deputies in the 50-member house rejected his visit for the summit due to start on Monday as "undesirable". Abbas has shown "negative and weak stances over the Zionist onslaught on the Palestinian people besieged in Gaza," the deputies said in a statement, urging the government to declare his visit to the oil-rich country as "unwanted". The 18-day-old Israeli offensive has killed more than 940 people and wounded over 4,300, and triggered a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=70115&language=en
Kuwaiti MPs Says Abbas 'Not Welcome' at Eco Summit
A group of 21 Kuwaiti MPs said on Tuesday that former Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose term expired on January 9, was "not welcome" at a planned Arab economic summit next week in Kuwait City, criticizing his response to the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The deputies in the 50-member house rejected his visit for the summit due to start on Monday as "undesirable". Abbas has shown "negative and weak stances over the Zionist onslaught on the Palestinian people besieged in Gaza," the deputies said in a statement, urging the government to declare his visit to the oil-rich country as "unwanted". The 18-day-old Israeli offensive has killed more than 940 people and wounded over 4,300, and triggered a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory.
http://almanar.com.lb/
Israeli official: our attack on Gaza is "good for the moderate Palestinians"
The Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Tuesday the offensive her government are conducting against the Gaza Strip is serving both the Israeli and the "Moderate Palestinians" interest.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Hamas expresses disappointment over PA failure to charge Israel with war crimes
The fact that Acting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has not filed any lawsuits charging Israel with war crimes is a condemnable act, said a Hamas official Tuesday. Hamas, in a statement to Ma'an, said the actions raised questions about the true nature of the perspective of the Palestinian Authority on Israeli war crimes in Gaza saying.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Zionist-Saudi conspiracy? What Saudi-Zionist conspiracy?
Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat (the mouthpiece of Prince Salman) translated and published the long article by Steven Erlanger in which he justified Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian population of Gaza. Not to be outdone, Al-Arabiyyah website reprinted it.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
American role in the massacres
The First Mistake: Barack Obama's Silence on Gaza
Seven years ago, another American president took the sympathy of the world and transformed it into hatred. Just two months ago, Barack Obama won it back on the backs of ordinary Americans. Today he stands on the brink of repeating the biggest mistake of his predecessor.
http://www.commondreams.org/
Rice shame-faced by Bush over UN Gaza vote: Olmert
"I said 'get me President Bush on the phone'. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care. 'I need to talk to him now'. He got off the podium and spoke to me. "I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour. Also see: Tail, Dog, Wag
Rep. Mark Kirk: 'It's Time To Take Out The Trash In Gaza'
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) all also strongly backed the Jewish state's actions at the hourlong rally. "To misquote Shakespeare, something is rotten in Gaza and now it's time to take out the trash," Kirk said.
http://progressillinois.com/
Obama invites settler to inauguration
President-and vice president-elect Barak Obama and Joe Biden will be there - and so will Ariel Lang, a 22-year-old resident of a small settlement near Jerusalem, who has been officially invited to attend the presidential inauguration in Washington on January 20.
Youth leader Ariel Lang. But Lang, who immigrated from Chicago to Israel as a child and thinks that US President George W. Bush "wants to destroy Israel," voted by absentee ballot for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Media
Israel's "leftist" media: Killing children is a matter of politics
Some of the countries now denouncing us have shed many liters of innocent blood. Where was public opinion, now lashing out against us after 17 days of warfare, over the past eight years, when cities and towns in southern Israel were being shelled and as rockets continued to rain on Israel as a "prize" for evacuating Gush Katif?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Hamas' take on the Gaza war? Watch it on YouTube
Hamas has set up a YouTube site showing graphic scenes from the fighting against Israel over the past few days. The militant group also attacks its political rival, Fatah. The site, which can also be reached through a link on the Hamas Web site, contains a number of channels with various categories of clips. One called "nationalist songs" praises suicide bombings against the backdrop of an old terror attack in Tel Aviv. A caption states that 17 Israelis were killed. The site, www. palutube. com, can be accessed in Hebrew and several other languages, but the names of the clips are in English. Some of the footage shows graphic bloodshed, similar to those being shown on Arabic television channels. The most popular clip under the category "resistance factions" was posted on Sunday and has been viewed nearly 3,000 times.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Haneyya gov't: Some media serve Israel and try to weaken our people's morale
The Palestinian government strongly denounced some media outlets for spreading rumors and serving the aims of the Israeli occupation in an attempt to undermine the morale of the Palestinian people.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Pure Propaganda From the Papers of Record
The Israeli propaganda machine has called up its allies in the media and Congress to make sure that no one will condemn the invasion of Gaza, which has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians, most of them civilians and many of them children. The pictures of small bodies lined up to be buried are convincing evidence that something is very wrong in Gaza, but leaders in Congress from both parties have nonetheless rallied to the cause of Israeli victimhood, putting all the blame for the conflict on the Palestinians.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/
Action Alert: Block IDF YouTube
The Israeli terrorist army got a YouTube channel where they continue to post their propaganda and lies. None of the video clips they posted can be proved or holds any credibility in the eyes of billions around the world, yet they continue to post their lies to justify their war crimes.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/
Solidarity/Protests
Gaza: Canadian Union of Postal Workers calls for boycott
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is asking your government to adopt a program of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/
New Free Gaza ship en route - ambiguous assurances from PM`s office
Anis Hamadeh/Paul Larudee - Free Gaza Movement - The Free Gaza Movement`s boat "Spirit of Humanity" is currently at sea, en route from Cyprus to Gaza. The movement`s Paul Larudee spoke with Mark Regev of the Israeli PM`s office, seeking seeking assurance that the boat would not be harmed or prevented from entering Gaza with medical supplies and personnel. Regev promised that "Israel will respect international law" but refused to specify how this would translate to actual behaviour of its navy`s gunboats off Gaza.
http://www.freegaza.org/he/
American Medical Students` Letter of Solidarity with Gaza
Rami Abdou/Kirsten Austad - With sadness and urgency we, medical students, express our outrage at the brutal Israeli attacks and subsequent humanitarian disaster that is occurring in Gaza. Medical supplies in Gaza's overstretched and under-equipped hospitals dwindle. The international community has been slow to respond with aid and even that which is offered is not reaching those in need.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_
Arab world labels Chavez "hero" of resistance
Since Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip began, Venezuela's president has openly and strongly criticized Israel and the United States for what he labeled the 'holocaust' of the Palestinian people; his outspoken rhetoric has turned him into a hero for the Arabs resisting.
http://www.alarabiya.net/
Venezuela's Chavez wins new fans in Palestine
Venezuelan flags and portraits of President Hugo Chavez have been flying high during protests in the Occupied West Bank against Israel's bloody assault on the Gaza Strip. The Venezuelan president's decision on January 6 to expel Israel's ambassador from Caracas - the only country apart from Mauritania.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Boat woes force Gaza activists back to Cyprus
Activists sailing to Gaza with medical supplies in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade had to turn back to Cyprus on Monday when their vessel developed engine trouble, organisers said. Members of the U.S. based Free Gaza Movement had planned to take doctors, aid workers and European parliamentarians on a small ferry to Gaza, where Israel has mounted an offensive to rout Hamas fighters.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Ten Israeli soldiers choose jail over Gaza
Ma'an – at least ten soldiers have opted for prison terms rather than going through with their deployment. The refusals would be the first of their kind since Israel launched its massive air, sea and ground assault on the Gaza Strip, On "conscience's grounds," the soldiers refused orders to head to the Gaza Strip, they said.
See video of soldiers refusing to serve here: http://www.zcommunications.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Labor Video Project, "Labor Boycott of Israel" Urged at Rally for Palestinians" (Video)
Bob Mandel, Oakland Education Association Executive Board: "Monday night, the union rep council, representatives from every school, passed the following motion: 'The Oakland Education Association unreservedly condemns the murderous Israeli assault on Gaza. We condemn their deliberate targeting of the civilian population, including schools and hospitals, and Israel's collective punishment of the Palestinian people, which has been carried out with the strong support of the United States government. We support the right to return, and we call for the establishment of a bi-national secular state in Israel-Palestine.'"
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.
ACTION ALERT: FAX ISRAEL
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/
Turkish students stand in silence tribute to Palestinians killed
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Austin's Response to the Gaza Massacre
http://www.zcommunications.
Millions of people demonstrate in solidarity with Gaza Strip
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
Gaza onslaught divides American Jewish community
American Jews are divided over the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which is being vigorously denounced by an increasingly active progressive Jewish movement. The war has sown divisions among Jews here, according to Ori Nir, spokesman for the US branch of the Israeli pacifist movement Peace Now.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Poem by Suheir Hammad: Jabaliya
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/
Meanwhile in the West Bank and Israel
East Jerusalem family being replaced by settlers
While our local press is necessarily focusing on the Gaza Strip, the aggressions of Israeli occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have not waned. Awaiting an unknown fate is Abdel Moati Abu Qutaysh after the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal to save his home. Thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem have faced similar crises.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
Israeli troops kill Hebron man near West Bank checkpoint
A young man was killed by Israeli bullets near the Tarqumiya checkpoint north west of Hebron Tuesday afternoon.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
2 J'lem Arabs to be charged with violating IDF censorship
Two Arab residents of east Jerusalem employed by an Iranian TV channel will be charged at the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday with violating IDF censorship, police have said. A police spokesman said reporter Hadar Shain, 34, and his producer, Muhammad Sarahan, 26 would face "serious charges" in court. The two are accused of violating a censorship decree during wartime and reporting on the entrance of IDF ground forces into Gaza hours before the media was permitted by the IDF Spokesperson Unit to mention the ground operation. The suspects denied the charges, maintaining that they merely reported what was being said in the international media. The two men were arrested on Monday by the Police's National Serious and International Crimes Unit. [end]
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Jail sentence for Arab stone-throwers
Three residents of northern village sentenced to jail terms for stoning cars.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Analysis/Opinion pieces
Hamas speaks, By Mousa Abu Marzook
From Damascus -- While Americans may believe that the current violence in Gaza began Dec. 27, in fact Palestinians have been dying from bombardments for many weeks. On Nov. 4, when the Israeli-Palestinian truce was still in effect but global attention was turned to the U.S. elections, Israel launched a "preemptive" airstrike on Gaza, alleging intelligence about an imminent operation to capture Israeli soldiers; more assaults took place throughout the month.
http://www.latimes.com/news/
We believe in resistance, not revenge
Hamas is demonised to justify Palestinian suffering in Gaza. But we have no quarrel with Jewish people, only the actions of Israel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
ERADICATING HAMAS
It now seems clear the last disastrous act of the Bush administration was giving Israel a green light to launch its final solution campaign against the Hamas government in Gaza.
http://www.ericmargolis.com/
Al-Jazeera Video: Hamas popularity worries Arab governments - 13 Jan 09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Chris McGreal reports from Jerusalem on accusations of war crimes in Gaza
As its attack on Gaza intensifies, Israel has been accused of a range of human rights violations. Chris McGreal reports from Jerusalem.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
AUB helps Palestinian children cope with bloodshed in Gaza
With Israel's brutal Gaza offensive now in its third week, there has been no let-up in the angry condemnations from Lebanese protesters. But in the country's overcrowded refugee camps, there are few sources of comfort or distraction for Palestinian children struggling to make sense of the violence, which has so far killed more than 900 Palestinians.
Bloodbath in Gaza 'boosts Hizbullah's case for resistance'
The fighting in Gaza has not spread to Lebanon, but the conflict could have profound effects on the country's national defense strategy by increasing - or at least intensifying - support for Hizbullah's powerful military wing, several analysts told The Daily Star.
Where will it end?
The death toll of Palestinians has risen inexorably. Twelve days after the Israeli offensive began, Palestinians put the number at more than 770, with at least 2,500 wounded. Israel claims to have killed more than 130 Hamas fighters. Some medical sources in Gaza say that as many as 40% of the dead are women and children, and that a large majority have been non-combatants. Several entire families have been wiped out. On January 4th Gaza's main vegetable market was hit: five people were killed, 40 wounded. Two days later a school run by the United Nations in the Jabaliya camp was shelled, leaving at least 30 dead. Nearly all were children. Gazans have long felt they lived in an open prison; now they are trapped in a shooting gallery.
http://www.economist.com/
Tunnel Vision: Arish, Egypt
As I write, we can hear the dull thud of explosions in the distance. Israeli airstrikes continue to blast targets in southern Gaza. Merciless bombing of the small Gaza Strip continues into a third week. I heard some people here in Egypt wonder if the Israeli Air Force must be running out of places and people to target. But perhaps the surveillance drones we heard and saw flying over the Rafah border crossing today hunted down more spots on which bombers could fix their cross-hairs. Perhaps they spotted underground tunnels. The Israeli government has, reportedly, already destroyed 80% of the tunnels that connect Gaza with the outside world.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
The Blood-Stained Monster Enters Gaza
Nearly seventy ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Gaza: The War On Children
War is traumatizing for anybody, but it's especially devastating to children caught in the crossfire. They are the ones who bear absolutely no responsibility for all the violence, yet they are the ones left with some of the worst physical and psychological scars -- scars they'll carry for life.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Vittorio Arrigoni: In Gaza Hippocrates is dead
In Gaza, a firing squad put Hippocrates up against a wall, aimed and fired. The absurd declarations of an Israeli secret services' spokesman, according to which the army was given the green light in firing at ambulances because they allegedly carried terrorists, is an illustration of the value that Israel assigns to human life these days – the lives of their enemies, that is. It's worth revisiting what's stated in the Hippocratic Oath, which every doctor swears upon before starting to practice the profession. The following passages are especially worthy of note...
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/
Alan Nasser, "Hamas: What It Is, What It Wants, and What Israel Makes of It"
Israel's stated reasons for its declaration of "all-out war" against the population of Gaza are the latest variation on a theme it put forward following the 2006 electoral victory of Hamas in Gaza. In February of that year Israel issued an official set of demands. Israel requires that Hamas recognize Israel's permanent right to exist, forswear violence, and accept the validity of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.
Gaza war is 'gift to Arab and Israeli extremists': former UN chief
AFP - Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip and its Hamas rulers is a gift to extremists throughout the Arab world and even in Israel, former UN secretary general Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali said on Monday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
"Catastrophically Misguided and Incomprehensible Policy" - Renowned Jewish Playwright Tony Kushner Speaks Out Against Israel's Assault on Gaza
On Monday, a group called Jews Against the Occupation staged a protest against Israel's invasion of Gaza blocks away outside the Israeli consulate in New York. Among those protesting was renowned playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner. Kushner won a Pulitzer prize and a Tony Award for his play "Angels in America", which was later made into an award-winning television mini-series. "The policy, on the part of the Israeli government, of reoccupation of Gaza, seems to me catastrophically misguided," Kushner says. "I can't imagine this is not going to continue to be bloody and a violation of human rights."
http://www.democracynow.org/
Israel's Moral and Political Insanity, By MIKE WHITNEY
Apart from the slaughter of 900 Palestinians and the vast destruction from 14 days of aerial bombardment, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives. The Palestinian resistance is still intact, the rocket-fire has continued, and Hamas is stronger than ever. So, what has been gained? Hamas has withstood the ferocious Israeli assault without knuckling under or making any concessions. They've proved that they are the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people and the standard bearers of the national liberation movement. Their place at the head of the government is now assured thanks to Israel's criminal blunder. In contrast, Mahmoud Abbas and the PA have ended up looking like cowards and quislings kowtowing to Tel Aviv.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
How long can Britain continue to bluster over Gaza?
Criticism that Britain is not doing enough to halt the violence in Gaza is growing in volume the longer the fighting continues. Anti-war activists and others demand "unequivocal condemnation" of Israel, an arms embargo and swingeing sanctions. British Jews demonstrate for and against Israel's actions. British Muslims warn that the government perceived insouciance over Palestinian deaths is enabling extremists "to spread their message".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Accused of Funding Hamas, Controversial Charity Group Collects Money in Lebanon for Palestinians in Gaza (VIDEO)
The exasperating traffic along Beirut's corniche creates a symphony of beeps and horns that can almost always be heard at all hours of the day. But the orchestra has quieted in recent days, even as young members of Etelaf Al-Khair, a charity that aims to coordinate relief operations for Palestinians in the occupied territories, stand in the middle of traffic, asking for donations. Etelaf Al-Khair, a Saudi-based organization that began as a fund-raising drive, has been the subject of controversy in the United States. On November 12, 2008, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated the group a "terrorist organization" under Executive Order 1322.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Are the Children of Gaza Not Our Children?
Palestine is the issue but Israel remains the problem. The fact that Israelis do not see their state as the problem is everyone else's problem only because they can't see it, and therefore will continue to support the brutality of their state because they think they are in the right. The number of Israelis able to reflect on the past is small. The past for Israelis is Jewish history and the holocaust, and a mythified Israeli history. There are parallels here with Zionism in its formative stages. It is not conceivable that Herzl or anyone else thought Palestine was a 'land without a people'. Indeed, in the privacy of his diaries Herzl wrote of 'spiriting' the 'penniless population' out of Palestine, leaving the Arab bourgeoisie to benefit from the presence of the Zionists. Those who followed Herzl rarely spoke openly about what they intended to do with the Palestinians, but when they did, their solution was the same – move them. The euphemism was 'transfer'. Vladimir Jabotinsky was rare among the leading figures of the Zionist movement in acknowledging openly that this could not be done voluntarily, that the Palestinians would fight for their homeland.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Gaza: Death is more common than sleep
The war on Gaza continues into its seventeenth night. I find myself longing for the day when I don't feel I have an obligation to tell this story anymore. Life seems to have been put on hold; at work, at home, as I eat, as I write, I feel like I am just waiting for this to end, so that maybe I can allow myself to go out again, or just to sleep. It's such a selfish thought to have when in Gaza, they're also waiting for this to end but only so that they can maybe go back to living without the fear of death arriving before the next breath.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/
From Vietnam to Gaza
As we hear the horrifying and sickening reports of the atrocities in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), and as ardent Israel backers predictably justify each one or contest the facts it's worth reading a new book ("The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth about US War Crimes"), by a former Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington bureau investigative reporter of the LA Times named Deborah Nelson.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Blowback From a Tragic Error, By BILL and KATHLEEN CHRISTISON
Your unwillingness before inauguration to say anything substantive about Gaza in public is in our opinion a tragic error. Specifically, your failure to censure Israel for refusing to accept immediately the U.N.'s ceasefire resolution on Gaza will severely and very rapidly damage the true U.S. national interest of improving our relationships throughout the Islamic world.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Seth Freedman: From making arrests on trumped charges to banning political parties, Israel has upped the anti-Arab stakes in the past seven days
On the edge of a lush, well-tended park, palm trees swaying in the evening breeze, a small delegation of demonstrators silently clutched candles as they condemned the bloodshed in Gaza. Their vigil was watched benignly by clusters of policemen strategically grouped nearby; passing pedestrians and drivers offered words of support and condemnation in equal measure – and within an hour the protest had run its course and disbanded.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Russell Means Breaks the Silence on Obama
American Indian activist Russell Means said President-elect Obama was selected by the colonial powers as president to improve the US image globally in the aftermath of George Bush. Further, Means said Obama's appointments show that he is a Zionist controlled by Israel. Speaking on Red Town Radio today, Means said what is happening now to Palestinians is what happened to American Indians.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Clinton: U.S. must address Israel's security and Palestinian aspirations
Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday the United States must address Israel's security needs and the Palestinians' legitimate aspirations as part of a pragmatic U.S. foreign policy.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
COMMENT : Gaza: A pawn in the new 'great game'
As the humanitarian disaster in Gaza continues, Western mediators seem more concerned about the global war of "moderates" versus "extremists" than in achieving a solution. Attempts to fit this simplistic template over a complex Middle East has reduced the Palestinian crisis to a chess piece in the existential global struggle against extremism.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/
Max Blumenthal: Bomb A Ghetto, Raise A Cheer -- The Video
On January 11, an estimated 10,000 people rallied in front of the Israeli consulate in midtown New York in support of Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip. The rally, which was organized by UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York in cooperation with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, featured speeches by New York's most senior lawmakers. While the crowd was riled to righteous anger by speeches about Hamas evildoers, the event was a festive affair that began and ended with singing and joyous dancing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
An open letter to Elie Wiesel - by Savo Heleta
The first time I read "Night," the memoir that describes your horrific experiences during the Holocaust, was in 2003. In my opinion, two books everyone in the world should read are "Night" and Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom." Like you, I also suffered during my childhood. In 1992, my life was turned upside down when the civil war broke out in Bosnia, my country. At the time, I was 13 and my sister was 11.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Binyamin Netanyahu demands 'crippling' of Hamas
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's rightwing opposition leader and favourite to win next month's elections, said today Israel needed a "clear victory" against Hamas and that the movement should "ultimately be removed" from Gaza.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Treat Hamas like Japan in WWII: Israeli nationalist leader
AFP - Israel should follow the example set by the United States when it brought Japan to its knees at the end of World War II, the head of an ultra-nationalist oppostion party was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Israel and Democracy?
Israel's latest political ploy of banning Palestinian Israeli parties from running in elections casts even further doubt on their claim to be 'the only democracy in the Middle East. One thing that is repeated over and over again by Americans and Europeans concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that 'Israel is the only democracy in the region, and that is why I support them.' However, if one takes a closer at how Israeli democracy differs from its American and European counterparts, they will arrive at some uncomfortable conclusions. After the war of 1948, a number of Palestinians remained in what was to become the state of Israel. Today this number sits around 20% of the total population. They were promised equal citizenship, but it has proven to be an empty one.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Rule of Thugs: Elections Committee Decision of the Israeli to Ban Balad
The Israeli Central Elections Committee has banned the Israeli political parties, Balad (The National Democratic Assembly) and Ra'am Ta'al. Parties whose constituencies represent more than 2/3 of the vote of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. There is no need for horrifying pictures of Gaza under attack. It is sufficient to watch a short clip from the meeting of Israel's Central Elections Committee to understand how Israel—including all of its social and political institutions—has entirely lost any pretense of being a proper state. A collection of shouting thugs who, with a wave of their hands, decide to ban two political parties that represent more than 2/3 of the Palestinian voters in Israel.
http://www.alternativenews.
Blair talks his way to £15 million - but not to Palestinians' elected representatives
http://jewssansfrontieres.
Cartoons
http://palestinethinktank.com/
Iraq
Monday: 1 US Soldier, 9 Iraqis Killed; 36 Iraqis Wounded
http://www.antiwar.com/
www.TheHeadlines.org
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