It may be a new year, but the bloodshed in Gaza this past week is a clear reminder that there’s no time to wait to protect human rights in 2009.
Since December 27, these horrific attacks on Gaza have caused over 400 Palestinian deaths and 2000 injuries. Rocket fire by armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas, has taken the lives of 4 Israelis and caused several dozen injuries. Amnesty International condemns the violence on both sides and calls on both parties to abide by international law and policies.
The U.S. government cannot continue this lop-sided blame on Hamas for the crisis. Ask Secretary Rice to urgently express deep concern about Israel’s disproportional response and its policies which have brought the Gaza Strip to the brink of humanitarian disaster.
Civilians in Gaza, already trapped in disgraceful humanitarian conditions, are victims of Israeli air strikes and intensified attacks. Israeli blockades of humanitarian supplies continue to deny Palestinians the food and medical supplies they desperately need.
Join Amnesty International in calling for Secretary Rice to:
- Pressure Israel and Palestinian armed groups to cease attacks on civilians
- Demand an end to Israel’s disproportional response
- Urge Israel to open the crossings to let humanitarian aid in
Together we can help lift Gaza out of this crisis.
38 comments ↓
Let’s see. Aggression, war, murder.
i would just like to say it is really bad what the israelis are doing so please donate on islam channel.
sky 813
Wait— let me get this straight — Hamas launches missiles into Israel– shattering the cease fire…Who is to blame for this surge in violence?….Attacking southern Ireal and using Gauza as a staging ground ( something the they knew would happen if Gauza was given back to plaastine-the critics of Sharon were right about that !) The palastinians had an increadible opportunity to build a peaceful porductive society ( with millions of dollars of infrustructure left behind) They destroyed everything and chose DEATH AND VIOLENCE by attacking Ireal again .
Why why why isn’t Isreal allowed to defend itself ? Why is everyone being critical of Isreal?
When Hamas obviously wants nothing but the total destruction of Isreal? These people don’t want peace … they never have !! They want Isreal DESTROYED !
excuse the misspellings … I’m tired.
Like Isreal
Ireal
… I mean Israel
Sorry Trish, but you’re buying too much propaganda. Israel broke the truce!
http://counterpunch.com/finkelstein01132009.html
trish. do you not wach what is happening in gaza!
first of all just to let you know that hamas is not a terroist group its a group of muslims tring to defend their country. hamas didnt start nothing .
A lot of people don’t pay attention, Mattie. It’s really sad too, because they all seem to know who wore what during the Golden Globes, but don’t care that their money is being sent to the Israeli military to slaughter poor people in Gaza.
Trish, I think you are wrong because you don’t know why Hamas has launched missiles; Hamas did that afer 3 years of blockade where hundreds of children died from undernourishment and different kind of diseases.
You have to seek the origin of the problem, each time that Hamas defends itself it is treated of terrorist , but when Israel kills hundreds of innocent children, no one talks, since 1948 Israel has never respect the UN resolutions the last one (10-18).
And despite this it never been treated to be terrorist.
the hamas have not done anything wrong all they have done is defend there holy land which the palistins have stolen and hopefully the palistins will give the land back
I just want objectivity.
Hamas is not innocent.
From the start of the ceasefire at 6 AM on June 19 till the incident on November 4th cited by CNN, the following attacks were launched against Israel from Gaza in direct violation of the agreement:
18 mortars were fired at Israel in this period, beginning on the night of June 23.
20 rockets were fired, beginning on June 24, when 3 rockets hit the Israeli town of Sderot.
On July 6 farmers working in the fields of Nahal Oz were attacked by light arms fire from Gaza.
On the night of August 15 Palestinians fired across the border at Israeli soldiers near the Karni crossing.
On October 31 an IDF patrol spotted Palestinians planting an explosive device near the security fence in the area of the Sufa crossing. As the patrol approached the fence the Palestinians fired two anti-tank missiles.
Israel broke the truce.
And even if they didn’t, or all the details and dates are wrong, Israel is still the bad guy. Period. When you blockade and starve a poor people for any period of time, you are doing something evil.
Collective punishment is not only immoral, but a war crime too.
why when hammas is trying to defend itself they are called terrorists but when the israels bomb Gaza, its like they did nothing! answer me!
the BOMBS the AIRSTRIKES the CRY CHILDREN its all happening in Gaza.
this is for all the muslims and for non muslims please donate for GAZA . being a 14 year old boy i still care about whats happening in Gaza did you no MY FAMILY IS IN GAZA FOR GOD SAKE STOP!
Oh OK– My Fault ……..Hamas WANTS peace with Israel !!!
They WANT to live along side Israel in PEACE.
Hamas equals peace !
Is that what all of you are trying to say??????
I only want an objective report on this situation.
I do not defend Israel for annexing Palestinian land for themselves…..!!
But I do not fault them for securing their borders either!
If I bordered a country chocked full of people that wanted to kill me … your damn right I would secure my borders too.
wouldn’t you?
Hamas wants Israel to leave the land.
Is that wrong?
and they won’t stop bombing until they do.
If that’s not the definition of a terrorist … then I don’t know what is.
ter·ror·ism
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
see I can copy and paste … aren’t I tricky? ( JK )
So Trish, are you saying that collective punishment is acceptable, legal, and moral?
To me, only the moral position is the right one. I would think a non-violent resistance of the Israeli occupation would be the best, but I’m not there. On the other hand, a crushing embargo, like the US did to Iraq for a decade under Bush and Clinton – is disgusting.
I am saying that they have been left with little choice… How do you deal with a country that is an absolute danger to itself and it’s neighbors ?? Iraq is a very good example… and BTW Those were sanctions instituted by the United Nations security council NOT the UNITED STATES.( please be careful where you place blame…) Iraq is a Federated Constitutional Republic ( at the cost of thousands of Iraqi and US lives) All because of the USA. This country will change the political landscape of the middle east according to some well know Islamic scholars…. But I digress…..I agree with you and non violent resistance to the “occupation” would be my choice too BUT if you remember an insanely huge foreign policy SUCCESS of the Bush administration was the total Nuclear disarmament of N. Korea. They were a direct result of sanctions instituted by it’s neighboring countries ( China) to get them to comply . According to you that was a bad move but were you comfortable with N. Korea having nukes ?
These are hard choices…. with peoples lives at stake NO MATTER WHAT YOU CHOOSE.
I thank you for talking this out with me . I am simply trying to get a FAIR and clear picture of what is going on…..This is a terribly complicated situation .
Without the US military (and maybe the British), those sanctions would’ve been virtually nothing. the US Military is the force behind everything in Iraq. To say opposite is to ignore reality or lie.
Well-over a million people died as a result of the sanctions. The US government is primarily responsible. Period.
Iraq is a “federated republic” or a puppet state.
A country armed with thousands of nukes starving people in another country to prevent them from having…say…5 nukes…is a horrible atrocity. Anyone who would approve of this is sick.
This war on the Palestinians is also sick.
Hello
if u wanna know what really happens in Gaza visit this website
http://www.elfarra.org/gallery/gaza.htm
the latest count is: more than 1017 Palestinian are killed by Israel (most of them are civilians) and more than 4750 are injured (more than 50 per cent of them are children and women)
for those who say why Hamas don’t go out of Gaza,
well, nobody can go out of Gaza ! its occupation!
secondly, Israel is using forbidden weapons and killing children!!! why children ?? check this boy, he lost his eyes, doctors have no idea what kind of weapons can cause this injury: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ooaBCQ-oRA
When you have no choice, you must defend yourself by what you have. Palestine doesn’t have an army, of course Israel will never allow . What can Palestinians do? They have been pushed to act like this. Do you know that all people around the world have been called terrorists when they defended their countries? even the Israelis themselves by the Nazism. Can you answer to my question: why Israel has all the rights and not Palestine?
Why do you think that it’s logic when hundreds of Palestinians die and it’s abnormal that one Israeli die, I think all of them are human being.
Gaza in a jail it’s not a country and despite this situation you want them to do nothing it’s impossible. If you want really peace, you have to treat them like human being.
You ask me to answer the question,“why Israel has all the rights and not Palestine?”
It’s Palestine that wants to forfeit Israel’s right to exist !
They have always wanted this !
The way I see it …. Israel has been DEFENDING the right to be on the land . It’s Palestine that has the problem with Israel ….. not the other way around.
If you had a neighbor that hated you and wanted you dead ,what would you think about your neighbor amassing an army?
What do you think he is going to do with it ??
OK– SO – Israel recognizes that Hamas will only be happy if some of the land that was annexed is returned to Palestine….so they withdraw from the Gaza strip and RETURN it to Palestine.
( against fears that it will be used as a staging ground to attack Israel) Sharon does it to show that he is serious about the peace process.
What happens ? They destroy MOST of the infrastructure ….. !! WHY ? — for one reason ……and one reason only …. That it was made by the hands of JEWS ! It disgusts them !
why does Israel have blockades ?
Why does Israel impose curfews etc.
Why does Israel keep Palestine from having an army?
These are just a few… but can you answer these questions for me?
Because they will use it against them !!!!!!
Please stop saying that Hamas wants peace and they are just being attacked FOR NO REASON by Israel.
It is totally bogus.
Hamas will NEVER be at peace with Israel until Israel is GONE GONE GONE from the land .
I will not defend Israel tactics …It makes me so sick to think of how out-of-hand this situation has become..I pray everyday that Israeli’s and Palestinians will one day live in peace.
I pray that the killing will stop for God’s sake !
If I am wrong then answer these questions for me …..
What has to happen to make Palestine happy?
to pacify Hamas?
What is the answer ?
Dear Trich, I think really that you have never study the history of Palestine and Israel. Israel did not exist before 1948. All the pieces of land which belong to Israel (nowadays) have been stolen to the poor Palestinians who were made to leave home. Do you know that France colonised Algeria for more than a century, it does not mean that it is the owner of the land, I advise you to see the map of Israel and Palestine before and after 1948 and also before and after 1967 and you can notice by yourself the difference, and how some Palestinians were obliged to leave their country and others to live in a sort of jail. 1,5 million of them live in 360 km2 . I remind you that, they had to fight to obtain this little piece of land. Yes I agree with you that Israel wants peace but under what conditions. Israel have to return all the Palestinians’ rights, after it can talk about Peace.
Rachael lee … Why were those sanctions instituted ?
Do you know ?
Find out and then get back to me .
Trish – is doesn’t matter WHY the sanctions were instituted. Collective punishment of an entire people is mass murder, immoral, and yes, even a violation of all standards of law.
Anyone who approves of such action – possibly yourself included – is sick.
It doesn’t matter WHY ?
What ?
With all do respect…
You profess to a care about the degradation and suffering of people and then in the next breath defend the dictatorship of tyrannical human being ?……..who’s humanitarian offense haven’t even been able to be measured to date………..” it doesn’t matter”
When he invades a smaller more helpless country ( a constitutional monarchy) to spread his Tyranny, death and oppression — you would have allowed him to do this ??
Saddam Hussein is responsible for putting Iraq in dire straights NOT anyone else .
He knew the consequences !!
He knew the wrath that the World community would bring upon the people of his country and he did it anyway !!
He and He alone is responsible for the consequence !!
I see your point about the sanctions …..they are horrible……..I agree !! You act like there is sucha simple solution !!
I ask you ……….What would have been your plan?
What alternative do freedom loving, righteous people( like you and me ) have against horrific dictators like this? That have to ability to kill millions with the stroke of their hand….
I can tell you what the UNITED SATES OF AMERICA’S plan for the country……your looking at it !
A federated constitutional republic — A GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ !
Shouldn’t you rejoice in this ?
ISN’T this what this web site is all about ??
They have been fighting to regain their country from the fascists that have wanted to control it for the last 8 years.
They are WINNING !!
There are some Islamic scholars that say the implications of this type of this type of governance may completely change the political landscape of the middle east.
Doesn’t that excite you?
It excites me !!
…. actually it beings me to tears when I think about it .
Madjid,
I have seen a map of the lands annexed by Israel from Palestine.
It’s shocking I agree.
I will NOT defend Israel for annexing it …….but I will NOT call Hamas innocent and helpless ……..or advocate/justify it’s tactics used to regain it …..
Nope it doesn’t matter why. Collective punishment is ALWAYS immoral. I’m sorry you don’t understand that.
It is morally acceptable to go after criminals, but it is a crime to kill their families, their friends, their neighbors, or anyone else not criminally complicit.
I didn’t expect you to answer …… after all, what could you say.
If you want to understand our position on such things, the answers are already published here:
http://www.populistamerica.com/ten_planks
You also might want to try to engage in other discussion threads, Trish.
Trish, really I get a relief that you recognise that since 1948 Israel annexes (steals) lands to Palestinians. What do you expect them to do? Maybe to be happy??
If someone obliges you to leave home, please don’t tell me that you are going to do nothing and if you try to fight in order to get back your house he calls you a terrorist. It’s what happens in Palestine since 60 years.
You must to deal with the problem just like a human being, please forget your origin your nationality (think just as a human being) and answer me.
hey trish, i know its hard to believe the fact that innocent civillians are dying because of the political pretense in which you are thinking. (im guessing your American)
ok so Gaza is like your family. and all the nieghbors (the countries) (who i guess are extremely powerful) say that that house is yours no worry…but then Israel another niegbor says they want to expand takes that house and declears it thiers not yours (Gazas).
your family is then angry so your attacking for what little opressed land you have.
bottom line US is still suplying Isreal because of Bush’s stupid decree that we must help our ally Isreal even if thier intentions are absolutley horrific and unjust.
Isreal is bully. no doubt in my mind that nothing will stop because of the GREED of Isreal.
Please Trich, answer me, how Palestinians can get back their stolen lands ????. suggest a solution and don’t tell me they will do it by discussing with Israel. you have to be naïve to think so.
Anybody see the NY Times editorial on a one-state solution in the Middle East? I think it’s a great idea, in fact they could even call it Israel if they want to. Then we can see how good the Israeli’s are – will they grant equal rights to people of another race and religion, or…….??
“You also might want to try to engage in other discussion threads, Trish.”
I’m not sure what this means.
Is this an invitation ? …..or a request that I leave.
hahha i know everything!!!!
Trish. Do not leave this site or this thread. We need discussion to ever solve a problem. I read all these comments and I think all have some good points.
I want to note something that I haven’t seen on here. The History.
The problem of Palestine began sometime around 1880. The Russians were expelling Jews and the Palestinians invited the Russian Jews to come live in Palestine in Peace with the indigenous Arabs. The came and all was well until Zionism reared its ugly head around the turn of the century ( 1900).
The most militant Zionist creed ( there are three ) believe that God gave the land to the Jews and that God told the Jews to cleanse the land of all non-Jewish people. Thus began the friction. By WWI it was getting pretty rough. After WWI and before WWII the Zionists were committing atrocities against the Arab population and after WWII the world felt sorry for the Jews and thought that giving them a Homeland in Palestine would be a good thing. But they didn’t take the Zionists into account.
Zionist really stepped up terrorism on the Arabs beginning around 1937 and continued it right up until the establishment of Israel in 1948. For the Zionist dream to be realized, the Arabs had to be expelled from Israel, by force if they resisted.
Even that wasn’t enough. Some factions of Zionism believes God wants them to restore Ersatz Israel ( an Israel stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates ). This is the true goal of the Zionist. The Palestinians don’t want to give their land to the Jews.
That brings us up to date.
Cliff Carson,
thank you very much for these pieces of information, because I have noticed that lots of people around the world ignored the real history of the Jews especially the Zionists, and they deal with the problem of the Palestine like if the lands belonged to the Israelis since several centuries.
I think it is a policy for concealing this reality to the rest of world, and it’s what I tried to explain to Trish.
But as I can see, you do it better than me, so thank you again.
I would like to add another story about Jews who used to live in Algeria before the French colonisation. They lived in peace with the Algerians and they had the Algerian nationality, but after the colonisation, and when the others fought the Frenchs, they changed their position and they considered themselves like colonists.
Arabs and Jews have lived in peace many times throughout history. Madjid, Cliff, thanks for pointing out so much of this important history. Important because the facts that you refer to are just not known in the mainstream
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