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Monday, January 26, 2009 |
JustWorldNews: "This war is wrong. It is wrong because it cannot achieve its manifest goals - long-term 'normal' life for the residents of the Negev region. The war is morally wrong because most of the victims are Palestinian and Israeli civilians whose only 'crime' is that they live in Negev or Gaza. This war is wrong because it is not heading toward a viable solution of the conflict but is instead creating more hatred and greater determination on the part of both peoples to harm one another. It is wrong because it is leading to stronger feelings that we have nothing to lose by striking further, with greater force. This war is wrong because, even before the last smoke rises from the rubble and the last ambulance carries the dead and wounded to hospitals, our leaders will find themselves signing a new agreement for a cease-fire.
And so this is an unnecessary, cruel and cynical war - a war that could have been avoided if our leaders had shown courage during the months of the cease-fire to truly work toward creating better lives for people whose only crime is that they live in the south.
Since the Israeli air force began bombing Gaza, it has been almost impossible to speak openly against the war. It is difficult to find public forums that welcome a call for a new cease-fire and for alternative solutions to the conflict - ones that do not rely on military strength or a siege of Gaza. When people are in the midst of war, they are not open to voices of peace; they speak (and scream) out of fear and demand retribution for the harms they have suffered."
And let's not forget that the suffering is mostly on the side of the Palestinians. The fear among Israelis is pumped up to a frenzy by the Zionists and colonists. The pathetic rocket attacks by Hamas, which usually only afflict material damage, are nothing compared to the war crimes by the might of Israel.
TimesOnline: "After weeks of denying that it used white phosphorus in the heavily populated Gaza Strip, Israel finally admitted yesterday that the weapon was deployed in its offensive.
Because Israel is not a signatory to the treaty that created the International Court of Justice in The Hague, it cannot be tried there. Any country that is a signatory to the Geneva Convention, however, can try to prosecute individuals who took part in the Gaza operation as culpable of war crimes."
LendmanBlog: "Three weeks of Israeli terror caused about 1400 deaths, over 5500 injured (many seriously), vast destruction throughout Gaza, and Physicians for Human Rights warning that large numbers of wounded may die because hospitals are overloaded and lack basic supplies. Yet Palestinians endure. Their spirit is unbowed and unbroken. Hamas is more popular than ever, and world outrage sustains them.
Francis Boyle is a law professor, human rights expert, and former legal advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations leading to the 1993 Oslo Accords. He elaborates on 'different degrees of heinousness for war crimes'. More serious are 'grave breaches' of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Since the First Intifada (1987), 'the world has seen those heinous war crimes inflicted every day by Israel against the Palestinian people living in occupied Palestine' - by Israeli forces and illegal settlers. Fourth Geneva mandates their prosecution, 'including and especially Israel's political leaders'.
'Crimes against humanity' are also committed 'as determined by the UN Human Rights Commission ... The concept is from the 1945 Nuremberg Charter, drafted by America to try Nazi war criminals."
The decision of the BBC and other channels not to help the victims of Gaza will result in many more deaths of civilians. That is an inhuman political decision. It is governed by a bias in favour of the Israeli viewpoint. It is wrong.
Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, has close ties with Israel. In 2005 he went to "Jerusalem, where he held a face-to-face meeting with the hardline Prime Minister Ariel Sharon".
The BBC is making itself guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes. I know that many BBC employees do not agree with the pro-Israel bias of Mark Thompson.
1:08:55 PM 
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As long as Palestinians are being harassed and ousted from their own homes and land, and Jews build illegal settlements on occupied land, there can be no lasting solution.
12:28:39 PM
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© Copyright 2009.
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