The Ceasefire was broken by Israel, when their armed forces carried out several attacks on November the 4th 2008, resulting in the death of 6 Palestinians.
Hamas had not fired a rocket since June 19 2008 ( when the Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was finalized) and only resumed after the Israeli attacks.
Senate Endorses Israel’s War on Gaza
By Jeremy R. Hammond
January 09, 2009
The US Senate on Thursday passed a non-binding resolution promoted by the influential Israeli lobby AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee), effectively endorsing Israel’s war on Gaza. The resolution, entitled “A resolution expressing solidarity with Israel in Israel’s defense against terrorism in the Gaza Strip” recognizes “the right of Israel to defend itself against attacks from Gaza” and reaffirms “the United States’ strong support for Israel in its battle with Hamas”.
The resolution does not recognize the right to self-defense of the Palestinian people.
The resolution criticizes Hamas for refusing “to comply with the requirements of the Quartet”, which include to “recognize Israel’s right to exist” and to “renounce violence”.
It makes no mention of Israel’s continuing settlement expansion in the West Bank, also in violation of the Quartet requirements. Nor does it call upon Israel, which illegally occupies the West Bank and has held Gaza under siege for three years, to recognize the “right to exist” of a Palestinian state or to renounce violence.
The resolution condemns the use of “human shields” by Hamas, but says nothing of the indiscriminate killing by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) that is taking a devastating toll upon civilians in Gaza.
The resolution, quoting from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, blames Hamas “for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there”.
It makes no mention of the fact that Hamas had strictly observed the cease-fire until it was violated by Israel on November 4, when Israel launched an airstrike into Gaza that killed 5 and injured several others.
The resolution notes that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including shortages of food, water, electricity, and adequate medical care, is becoming more acute”.
It neglects to point out that this is the direct result of Israel’s policy of blockading Gaza, and that the humanitarian crisis has been greatly exacerbated by Israel’s aerial bombardment and invasion of Gaza, instead praising the minimal amount of humanitarian aid Israel has allowed into the territory.
The resolution also states that “a sustainable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will allow for a viable and independent Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel … will not be possible as long as Israeli civilians are under threat from within Gaza”.
It says nothing about the impossibility of such a two-state solution so long as Palestinians live under occupation and threat from Israel.
Members of Congress Voice Support for Israel
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) voiced her support for the resolution by saying that Israel’s war on Gaza was “a phase in a war against Iranian terror”. She said she looked forward to being able to visit Israel when its citizens were no longer under threat, presumably from rockets fired from Gaza.
She said nothing about wanting to visit Gaza or looking forward to its citizens living no longer under threat from Israel.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) characterized Israel’s war as “self-defense” and said it was well within its rights to engage in such action. He said he supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but added that such a solution would only be tenable if Israel is “secure”. He added that “Israel can always look to the United States for support and that this will continue to be true “when Barack Obama becomes President”.
He said nothing about the security of any future Palestinian state, or of the security of the territories at present that are illegally occupied by Israel. He offered no suggestions as to where the Palestinian people could look to for support.
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) expressed having “every confidence that the incoming administration would continue the unwavering support of the United States of America for the state of Israel. She said her own opinion, “as a Jewish member of Congress” is that Israel has “every right to defend itself” and that Israelis “have been too patient” in responding to rocket attacks from Gaza. She expressed that it was unacceptable for tunnels to be used to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
She failed to note that it was Israel, not Hamas, that first violated the cease-fire. She expressed no similar empathy for the Palestinian people, who have lived under oppression and terror on a much greater scale, and who have been killed in far higher numbers by Israeli military actions. She made no mention of the fact that tunnels are also used to avert a complete humanitarian catastrophe, to bring in food, fuel, medical supplies, and other humanitarian goods because Israel’s blockade has prevented such basic necessities from being delivered into Gaza.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) condemned Hamas’ firing of rockets into Israel because they were intended to kill civilians even though only a small number had been killed. He said the US looks forward to “supporting Israel through its difficult time now”.
He did not condemn the Israeli killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians or express any empathy difficult time the Palestinians are going through.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NV) said “if you don’t want to be hit back, don’t hit. That’s really the message” of Israel’s war on Gaza. He blamed criticism of Israel on “anti-Semitism” and called it “blaming the victim”. He said “Israel has that right, to protect itself”.
He neglected to mention that it was “Israel”, not Hamas, which broke the cease-fire. Nor did he offer any indication that this standard applied equally to both Israelis and Palestinians. He expressed no support for the right of Palestinians to protect themselves.
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) expressed that weapons should not be made available to Hamas.
He offered no similar comments about weapons being made available to Israel.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) was a lone voice in the Congress expressing any kind of empathy for the plight of the Palestinians. In remarks from the floor of the House, he said:
“Wake up America. We have trillions for a war machine and the banks while our government stands by and sniffs at the slaughter of innocents in Gaza, where Israel is blocking aid for wounded Palestinians. Here’s today’s Washington Post. It says, ‘The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it found at least 15 bodies and several children emaciated but alive in a row of shattered houses in the Gaza Strip and accused the Israeli military of preventing ambulances from reaching the site for 4 days. 12 corpses lying on mattresses in one home, along with 4 young children lying next to their dead mothers.’ That’s a quote. Today, US tax dollars, US jets, and US helicopters provided to Israel are enabling the slaughter in Gaza. The administration enables Israel to press forward with the attack against defenseless civilians, blocks efforts at promoting a cease-fire at the UN, and refuses to make Israel compliant with conditions that arms shipments will not be used for aggression. Israel is going to receive $30 billion in a ten year period for military assistance, without having to abide by any humanitarian principles, international laws, or standards of basic human decency. Wake up America.”
Jeremy R. HammondJeremy R. Hammond is the editor of Foreign Policy Journal, a website dedicated to providing news, critical analysis, and opinion commentary on U.S. foreign policy
Source
If you wonder why the UN has done little or nothing to stop the violence in Gaza the US is behind Israel all the way. Of course they have been behind the take over of as was Britain, the Palestinian land for a very long time.
The UN will do nothing to actually stop the violence in Gaza. They will pretend and they will put out news releases but in actuality they are just a puppet for the US as par usual.Just like when Hamas was elected by the people of Palestine, western governments and Israel cut off aid and imposed an embargo on Gaza. Seem the Hamas government wanted to look out for the interests of the people of Gaza by protecting the Natural Gas.
Now in the so called UN resolution they want to put The government back in power, that will comply and give them access to the Natural Gas.
It doesn’t matter that Israel is committing war crimes, nor the fact they have stolen massive amounts of land from the Palestinians over the years. It doesn’t matter how many will die as long as like in Iraq they get access to the Natural Gas.
The Self Defense issue is just a lie to cover up mass murder. Gaza had been under occupation for about 48 years.
Israel must be stopped and the US must stop supporting them. The American people are the ones, who must stop their government from giving weapons and aid to Israel.
The rest of the World must not stand idly by, an allow this Genocide to continue. It has gone on for far to long.
The rest of the world must Defend those in Gaza from the profiteering, power hungry, land grabbing, murders.
Israel is not the innocent victim they pretend to be.
Gaza: international plan hatched to bring back Fatah
plan to create a new foothold in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority and to bring in international monitors was being drawn up by diplomats yesterday as a UN ceasefire call was dismissed by both sides.
The plan would allow a return of the authority, led by the secular Fatah faction, to the territory 18 months after it was expelled by the Islamist Hamas. Diplomats are considering taking a triangle at the southern end of Gaza, including the Rafah crossing to Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing to Israel, to be policed by Turkish and French military monitors to stop arms smuggling into Gaza.
The zone would nominally be controlled by the authority, the internationally recognised Government. Such a plan would allow the crossings to reopen for the first time since Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007.
((Sept. 11, 2005: The last Israeli soldiers and settlers leave Gaza, completing Israel’s withdrawal after 38 years of military occupation. Fatah was in power until July of 2006 when Hamas was elected, they did not, seize power exactly in 2007, (they took back the government they had been elected too and forced out of), with a majority of votes I might add- Jan. 25, 2006: In the election of a West Bank-Gaza parliament, Hamas wins 76 of 132 seats, most of them in Gaza.
“Western powers then proceeded to cut off aid to the Palestinians. Israel withheld tax revenues. They also set up the embargo. Because they dislike the election results, did not give them the right to manipulate Hamas or remove them from power.”This was over the “Natural Gas” among other things, of course. Hamas also want the boarders of 1967 back. Can’t have that now can we? Of course the US and others are very good at toppling governments that have been elected by their people, if they do not comply with their wishes. As they did in Haiti. So says history. Any way the plan now is to give back the control of Gaza to Fatah))
The plan is being negotiated as part of the Egyptian peace initiative, announced by President Mubarak after talks with President Sarkozy of France, which calls for an immediate ceasefire to be followed by talks on securing the Gaza-Egypt border and reopening the crossings.
It faces formidable obstacles. Diplomats said yesterday that the Egyptian efforts were getting bogged down because of disagreements over how to secure the border. Hamas has said it would consider allowing observers at the border crossings with Egypt but opposes an international force. It also claimed yesterday that a delegation of three Hamas leaders had crossed the border into Egypt to join talks.
Israel, however, is insisting on a robust international force to destroy smuggling tunnels under the border.
Egypt, for its part, does not want international troops on its territory. Instead, Cairo wants to revive the 2005 agreement on movement and access, under which EU monitors oversaw the passage of people through the Rafah crossing and vehicles through Kerem Shalom, a deal that fell through when Hamas came to power. The new plan came as the UN ceasefire proposal was flatly rejected almost as soon as the Security Council backed it 14-0, with the US abstaining.
The US had been expected to back the UN resolution but abstained at the last minute. Diplomats said Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, changed her position after a call from President Bush.
Yesterday F16s continued to fire missiles at houses and apartment blocks in Gaza City, and the air reverberated with artillery fire. The fire was not all one way, though. Rockets repeatedly streaked out of Gaza towards the settlements of Sderot, Beersheba and Ashkelon just across the border.
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, said: “Israel has never agreed for any outside influence to decide on its right to defend its citizens. The firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the UN decision is unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian organisations.”
Israel’s rejection of the resolution was no surprise. The offensive against Hamas is hugely popular: a poll in the Maariv newspaper showed 91 per cent of Israelis supporting it. “This is the time to back the commanders, soldiers and pilots working day and night to conduct a difficult, complex and entirely just war,” Ari Shavit, of the left-of-centre Haaretz newspaper, said.
This was planned for some time by Israel, with the help of the US. The US still helping them as we know, as are others who will profit and gain power from the “Demise of Gaza”.
Hebrew U. students scuffle during demonstration
Jewish students briefly scuffled Tuesday at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, during a small protest against Israel’s Gaza offensive, police said.
There were no injuries reported in the incident at the university’s Mount Scopus campus, and the melee was broken up by campus security guards even before police arrived on the scene, Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
The early afternoon clash erupted during the anti-Israel protest, held by dozens of Arab and a few leftist Jewish students at the main entrance to the campus. During the gathering, a Palestinian flag was unfurled.
The demonstrators were confronted by other students who were offended by the protest, and a scuffle ensued.
But within 20 minutes or so, the students had dispersed, and were nearly outnumbered by forces who had rushed to the scene.
The demonstration was the second such protest at held on the campus in the past week.
The previous protest, which was larger, ended without incident.
A separate demonstration Tuesday at Haifa University was forcibly broken up because it was not approved by the university. Ten protesters were arrested, including the chair of the Arab student union.
The Arab student group said in response that the university was engaging in intimidation.
A demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, organized by the Israeli Arab human rights organization Adallah, turned violent when a protester pelted a motorist with a stone after he shouted insults at them, police said.
The stone missed the driver and hit a police officer in the head.
The protester was arrested, while the police officer was treated by Magen David Adom medics, police said.
Those who refuse fight for Israel in Gaza are jailed. Numerous people teenagers included have been jailed.
So if you do not comply with Israels wishes you have problems. Not everyone in Israel is for the war. Many are against it, but you will never the truth as to how many. They will not publish the truth whatever it may be.
When is came to the war with Lebanon it was reported about 20,000 protesters were against the war. That is only those who went to the rally, many who did not go were against it as well. You will of course never get the entire truth from the mainstream media. Just like we are not getting the entire truth now. Those who are against the war are also called leftist, like in the US.
Not much difference between the two in the use of demonizing, bigoted, tactics. Two peas in a pod I must say the similarities are uncanny.
Like the US they also have a relatively high poverty rate as well. It is more important to spend money on weapons to wage war, then on their people. Even those who were survivors of the Holocaust, are treated poorly by their own Government in Israel. Many of them live in poverty as well.
Here is something very interesting.
Israel is suppressing a secret it must face
May 1 2008 But I can’t do it. Whenever I try to mouth these words, a remembered smell fills my nostrils. It is the smell of shit. Across the occupied West Bank, raw untreated sewage is pumped every day out of the Jewish settlements, along large metal pipes, straight onto Palestinian land. From there, it can enter the groundwater and the reservoirs, and become a poison.
Standing near one of these long, stinking brown-and-yellow rivers of waste recently, the local chief medical officer, Dr Bassam Said Nadi, explained to me: “Recently there were very heavy rains, and the shit started to flow into the reservoir that provides water for this whole area. I knew that if we didn’t act, people would die. We had to alert everyone not to drink the water for over a week, and distribute bottles. We were lucky it was spotted. Next time…” He shook his head in fear. This is no freak: a 2004 report by Friends of the Earth found that only six per cent of Israeli settlements adequately treat their sewage.
Meanwhile, in order to punish the population of Gaza for voting “the wrong way”, the Israeli army are not allowing past the checkpoints any replacements for the pipes and cement needed to keep the sewage system working. The result? Vast stagnant pools of waste are being held within fragile dykes across the strip, and rotting. Last March, one of them burst, drowning a nine-month-old baby and his elderly grandmother in a tsunami of human waste. The Centre on Housing Rights warns that one heavy rainfall could send 1.5m cubic metres of faeces flowing all over Gaza, causing “a humanitarian and environmental disaster of epic proportions”. Source
A couple of other tid bits.
Israel ‘needs Georgia for Iran strike’
August 26 2008 A recent report suggests that the US and Israel had plans to use Georgia as a launchpad for aerial strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Columnist Ian Brockwell says the US is interested in Georgia because it borders Russia, has a pipeline that is intended to transfer oil to Israel, and most importantly is a country that can be used in an attack against Iran.
The Puppet Masters Behind Georgia President Saakashvili
August 21 2008 The controversy over the Georgian surprise military attacks on South Ossetia and Abkhazia on 8.8.08 makes a closer look at the controversial Georgian President and his puppet masters important. An examination shows 41 year old Mikhail Saakashvili to be a ruthless and corrupt totalitarian who is tied to not only the US, NATO establishment, but also to the Israeli military and intelligence establishment. Source
Israel is not the “victim” it pretends to be They are warmongers like their American counter parts.
You can also bet there is more then $4 billion in Natural Gas to be had as well. There is more there is always more.
How typical, steal from the poor and give it to the rich. That is a world wide epidemic. This is “Fostered” by the “Rich”, powerful, countries, with the most “Weapons of Mass Destruction” of course.
- Give us you resources or we will kill you is their motto.
- We will say the war against you is “Self Defense”
- We will sanction you.
- We will make you ill.
- We will deprive you of medical aid.
- We will starve you.
- We will steal your land
- We will get what we want, no matter how many of you die.
- We will kill you to get what we want says the “superior race” of war mongers and thieves.
- We will use you as slaves.
- We will torture you.
- We will imprison you.
- We will rape you women and children.
- We will lie to everyone.
- We will demonize you.
- We will poison your land……
- We will watch you die, from the poison, we bomb you with for years to come.
- We will make you the evil demons.
- We will destroy your hospitals
- We will destroy your schools
- We will destroy your roads.
- We will destroy homes
- We will never let you be free.
- We will brainwash you
- We will destroy, your means, of making a living.
- We will destroy your places of worship, of whatever religion you may be.
- We will even pretend to rescue you.
- We will pretend to help you.
- We would kill every man woman and child given the opportunity.
- We will exterminate you.
- We let our our poor fight our wars.
- We will let our own die because, we use tax dollars, for war instead of our people
- We enlist our “poor”, to fight our wars for us, they are expendable and serve not other purpose.
- We will wage war on you with, fabricated lies and propaganda.
- Comply or Die.
- We will see to it, you will be blamed for everything. Just watch and see.
- Now comply or else?????????????
- We control you government forever.
- We will never let you be Free of our grasp.
- We will rule the entire planet.
- We will never stop our quest toward “world domination”.
- We are the “Superior Race”
That is what they do and how they think.
Time and time again they crawl out of their burning, pits of hell, to wage war against the weak, in their thirst for power and control.
They are the “real terrorists” of the world.
They will even kill their own, when they deem it necessary (“False Flags”). Then of course they blame the event on whom ever ,they want to wage war with. False Flags sway public opinion in their favor however. The public at large usually do not find out until years later unfortunately. It has been done many times, as we all well know and if you don’t then you should. Even in the Days of J. F. Kennedy they wanted him to use a “False Flag” to wage war on Cuba. He fortunately refused to allow it. It was not the first time and certainly wasn’t the last.
Any so called Terrorist Attack, could be a” False Flag”. It only becomes a False Flag, if they are caught, you see. What most fail to see is they don’t care who or how many die. This of course is what they count on. No one could ever imagine, they would deliberately kill their own people. No Government would do that to their own would they? The answer to that is yes they most certainly would. Just like the USS Liberty. Co-Conspirators the “US” and “Israel”.
The UN and NATO are guilty of this as well. It is becoming more obvious every day. They help the power hungry profiteers.
The World Bank and IMF have played a great role in this as well.
History says it all.
The US wants this war in Gaza as much as Israel wants it. Make no mistke about that one. They encourage Genocide and Extermination. They have exterminated over a million people in Iraq. It too is another illegal war built on lies and propaganda as we all well know.
Of course this so called “Superior Race” as they think themselves to be is killing everyone on the Planet due to their Weapons which are extremely toxic. So toxic the remnants, left behind, will kill for a billion odd years to come.
They are not, intelligent, wise let alone “Superior”, they are in fact ignorant, fools.
They poison the food, the water, the air and the earth.
Only an utter fool would do such a thing.
The Ceasefire was broken by Israel, when their armed forces carried out several attacks on November the 4th 2008, resulting in the death of 6 Palestinians.
Hamas had not fired a rocket since June 19 2008 ( when the Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was finalized) and only resumed after the Israeli attacks.
Did You Know 