A Peace Initiative by the World's Women and Children

Collective Punishment of Wanton Violence and Destruction Against Gaza Civilians is Unacceptable

It appears that the 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire truce that was negotiated by the UN and the US has collapsed; the ceasefire had held for only two hours. 

According to the Haaretz, two Gaza  soldiers were spotted near "near the shaft of an infiltration tunnel" and were apparently shot. This news was reported one minute before the cease-fire went into effect (i.e. 8 am Israeli time). It is unclear when or where exactly this incident occurred, and whether it was related to the later reports of an incident at 9.30 am where two Israeli soldiers were killed, and one was allegedly captured by Gaza soldiers.

7:59 A.M.  An IDF paratroopers unit opened fire overnight at two Gaza militants who were spotted standing near the shaft of an infiltration tunnel. Direct hits were reported. In addition, IDF forces uncovered and destroyed two other tunnel shafts. (Gili Cohen) 

1:36 P.M. IDF soldier missing in Gaza, feared taken captive.

Gaza militants opened fire at IDF troops operating in the southern Gaza Strip at 9:30 A.M., and it is feared an Israeli soldier has been taken captive by Gaza militants, the IDF Spokesman says.

What has been verified by independent sources was that the Israeli military has resumed shelling in the Gaza area of Rafah, with Palestinian casualties (some 53 died), and it looks set to continue.

The Israeli's Justice Minister warned on her Facebook: “Hamas paid and will continue pay a heavy price. And if it wasn’t sufficiently clear to anyone yet, now the world knows who’s responsible for the destruction and the blood of civilians in Gaza.”

This could be more Israeli posturing before pulling out IDF ground troops from Gaza unilaterally, and without agreeing to any cease-fire demands from the Palestinian side. 

Or Israel could use this incident as a justification for continuing to kill more Palestinians, albeit at a safer distance through air strikes instead of risking its ground troops.

Either scenario does not bode well for the Palestinian civilians, and merely reinforces the status quo - Gaza remaining under a horrific and unsustainable siege (one that has been in place since 2007).

The world's super-power is clearly unwilling to do what it takes to enforce an immediate cease-fire. It is occupied over the dilemma of providing for one of its "best friends in the world" by giving Israel $225 million to boost its Iron Dome system and ensuring that its American "children have a future" by not increasing America's debt. We will see which priority wins out eventually.

When Obama demanded an immediate cease-fire last week during the massacres in Shujaiyya, it was promptly ignored by Israel.

International Flotilla of Only Women and Children: Break the Siege in Gaza

What can people of conscience do then? Besides the boycotts, prayer vigils and speaking out against the wanton violence?

Over the last few days, there was some excitement over the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH)'s announcement that it would send another flotilla packed with medical supplies, generators and prefab homes to Gaza later this year. It reportedly was seeking armed protection from the Turkish army and the UN. IHH had sent in a similar flotilla in 2010, but it was raided by the IDF. Nine activists on board the ship were shot and killed by IDF commandos. The flotilla's aim to break the siege then was unsuccessful.

A recent report claims that IHH will apparently not be sending in a second flotilla. The report claims this agreement was reached after Israel agreed to allow Turkey to fly in aid to Gaza (this is yet to be verified by independent sources).

However, the flotilla idea is nevertheless an idea worth looking at, perhaps with some tweaks. A second flotilla sent in at this time would signal to Israel that the international community will not stand for wanton violence and destruction against a civilian population. The impact on children and women have been devastating (40% of the Gaza population is under 14 years of age).

What better way for the world to show its peace-loving stance, then by sending its own women and children in an international flotilla to Gaza at this crucial time? 

In the first flotilla, the passengers were mostly international activists, and volunteers from around the world, including men. 

Sending only women and children from around the world (perhaps apart from male crew needed to steer the ship) can be a symbolic act - paying tribute to the scores of innocent women and children affected by Israel's collective punishment on Gaza.

Having only women and children passengers on board the ship also leaves the passengers free from being accused by the IDF as being potentially dangerous (as happened with the first flotilla). Journalists and independent observers should board the ship and check it to ensure only legitimate aid and supplies are carried (i.e. no weapons).

Admittedly, this also leaves the women and children passengers completely vulnerable to potential IDF attacks, just as the the women and children of Gaza are open to attacks. But that itself is a huge symbolic statement, and Israel would find it hard pressed to attack a ship of only women and children, especially one that is represented by all of the countries in this world. One that would be watched by everyone in the world.

Since international law deems that an attempt by a state-sponsored organization to break a blockade by another sovereign state can be viewed as an act of war against the latter state, then this initiative should be driven by women and children that represent as many countries in the world as possible - A peace initiative spearheaded by individual women and children of the world FOR the women and children of Gaza.

If diplomacy has not broken the siege of Gaza for years now, and cannot stop the wanton bloodshed, maybe it is time for the rest of us - people of conscience - to step in and act.

Add your own ideas, start talking, and spread it. 

US Citizens Fighting in Israel

That there are Americans citizens who support Israel financially, politically and socially is not exactly an unknown fact. However, the recent atrocities committed by the Israeli military in Gaza have brought to light another fact - one that is perhaps lesser known by the global public - that is, there are American citizens who support Israel militarily by fighting as Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers.

This fact was publicized by no less than the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, when he offered his condolences, in a tweet, to the two dead IDF soldiers who were US citizens. This he did, to re-affirm the "close bonds" between US and Israel. One supposes, he needed to do that given his "hot mic" faux pas and the recent US FAA ruling preventing US flights into Israel (which has since been reversed).

When Kerry publicized this lesser known fact, he demonstrated to the world that his fellow American citizens were free to lend their support and show their allegiance to Israel by enlisting in the Israeli military, and that this would be perfectly acceptable to the US.

Never mind, that the massive humanitarian impact of the IDF military strikes on Gaza is by now undeniable - some 788 Palestinian civilians killed, over 5100 Palestinian civilians injured, Palestinian houses, hospitals, mosques and even UN schools have been targeted and destroyed by IDF bombs (IDF has deemed that 49% of the Gaza land area is open to their attacks) - in stark contrast to the three Israeli civilians killed and 29 IDF soldiers killed in battle, which indicates a indiscriminate and disproportionate use of military power by Israel.

Never mind that the UN Human Rights Council had recently voted to launch an inquiry into potential violations of human rights by Israel in its conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Never mind that the UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay said "the disregard for international humanitarian law and for the right to life was shockingly evident" and that the UN Human Rights Council would investigate “all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law” in Palestinian areas. 

Predictably, the US voted against the above-mentioned resolution that was drafted by Palestine, which was supported by 29 of the 46-member UN Human Rights Council. 

After all, it is one thing to be complicit in aiding an errant ally through financial and political means, and quite another to knowingly send off American citizens to partake in Israeli war crimes.

Media Coverage of the Deadly Strikes on Gaza Children

Were the 4 Gaza Boys Intentionally Targeted by Israeli Missiles?

Known Sequence of Events:

On Wednesday, July 16, 2014, the Israeli military dropped bombs that hit a shack located on a Gaza beach. The first blast had killed one child. A group of children were seen running away from the area of the first blast, headed towards a nearby hotel that was filled with journalists. The beach was empty except for the running children. The running children were visible, even from a distance, to the many journalists at the hotel. As the children ran, a second round of firing began in their direction - an ensuing third blast then killed three children. This third blast was a mere 30 seconds from the first blast. Some others made it to safety - four amongst the survivors were injured with shrapnel wounds to their head, chest and limbs.

Names and ages of the 4 dead children:
Ismael Mohamed Baker (9) 
Ahed Atif Baker (10)
Zakaria Ahed Baker (10)
Mohamed Ramiz Baker (11)

Image Source: Tyler Hicks / The New York Times

Gaza Children Running for their Lives Before Blast Kills Them

Graphic Video Warning (The Dead Gaza Children Lying Mangled on Gaza Beach) 

Journalists' Eyewitness Testimonies and News Reporting:

Since this tragic occurrence unfolded in front of many international journalists, let us see what was reported about it, and if there were any differences or inconsistencies in their accounts. 

The main points in the eyewitness accounts and news reports are highlighted in red.

The New York Times Article (Tyler Hicks, July 16, 2014)

A small shack atop a sea wall at the fishing port had been struck by an Israeli bomb or missile and was burning. A young boy emerged from the smoke, running toward the adjacent beach. I grabbed my cameras and was putting on body armor and a helmet when, about 30 seconds after the first blast, there was another. The boy I had seen running was now dead, lying motionless in the sand, along with three other boys who had been playing there.

By the time I reached the beach, I was winded from running with my heavy armor. I paused; it was too risky to go onto the exposed sand. Imagine what my silhouette, captured by an Israeli drone, might look like as a grainy image on a laptop somewhere in Israel: wearing body armor and a helmet, carrying cameras that could be mistaken for weapons. If children are being killed, what is there to protect me, or anyone else?

.......

There is no safe place in Gaza right now. Bombs can land at any time, anywhere.

A small metal shack with no electricity or running water on a jetty in the blazing seaside sun does not seem like the kind of place frequented by Hamas militants, the Israel Defense Forces’ intended targets. Children, maybe four feet tall, dressed in summer clothes, running from an explosion, don’t fit the description of Hamas fighters, either.

 The New York Times Article (Anne Barnard, July 16, 2014)

The four Bakr boys were young cousins, the children of Gaza fishermen who had ordered them to stay indoors — and especially away from the beach. But cooped up for nine days during Israeli bombardments, the children defied their parents and went out Wednesday afternoon, the eldest shooing away his little brother, telling him it was too dangerous.

As they played on and around a jetty in the late-afternoon sun, a blast hit a nearby shack. One boy was killed instantly. The others ran. There was a second blast, and three more bodies littered the sand. One was charred, missing a leg, and another lay motionless, his curly head intact, his legs splayed at unnatural angles.

Alon Ben-David, a well-sourced Israeli military affairs analyst, said on Israeli television that the first beach blast targeted a structure that Israel believed was used by Hamas. He said the second blast might have been aimed at the running children, perhaps mistaken for militants. He added that given the military’s technologically advanced surveillance equipment, “it is a little hard for me to understand this, because the images show that the figures are children.”

 France 24 Video Report (Gallagher Fenwick, July 16, 2014)

No doubt that whoever undertook the first strike, could most likely see that, well, whoever was running away from the point of impact were children. This coming from a source in Israel, very close to the military, who deems again that whoever was operating the machinery on the Israeli end could see that these were children.

 Aljazeera Article (Dylan Collins, July 16, 2014)

The first explosion shook the windows. Israel’s war boats had been shelling Gaza City’s harbor for the last four or five nights, but none of the shells had ever reached this close. My colleagues and I brushed it off as another random shot and began to sit back down to work when we heard another, similarly sized boom. Upon first glance out the window, it looked like the shell had landed on nothing but a lonely shack on the narrow strip of land that juts out to help form the harbor. What we couldn’t see from our angle was the group of kids sprinting through the smoke away from the site.

A third boom; but this time something was off. The usually lifeless street, apart from the masses of foreign journalists who have arrived over the last few days to cover Gaza’s latest tragedy, began to snap to life.

  Washington Post (William Booth, July 16, 2014)

It is not unusual for militants to launch rockets from sites near my hotel. Israeli missiles and shells have also landed pretty close to al-Deira, an old red stucco inn with a large terrace overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Just a few hundred yards down the beach is the fishing harbor.

 

I had just returned to the hotel to type up some notes and file inserts on the day’s news when there was a large explosion on the quay at the port, a little after 4 o' clock in the afternoon. 

We could smell the charge. I wondered: Did Hamas just fire a rocket? But it was the sound of an incoming round. We saw a small fisherman’s shack on the quay, churning with gray smoke.

 The Independent (Kim Sengupta, July 16, 2014)

Four young boys – members of the same family – playing football and hide and seek on the beach were killed today by what is believed to have been gunfire from Israeli warships carrying out a blockade of Gaza. The attack on the fishing port in Gaza City came at just after four o’clock on a sunny and clear afternoon with good visibility. The group of cousins, aged between nine and 11, were around what looked like a derelict shed when they were hit by a shell from the direction of the sea.

.....

Nine days of violence has cost 213 lives and led to more than 1,200 injuries in Gaza. The overwhelming number of civilian dead, including children, have come from air strikes. The Israeli military have, however, repeatedly targeted the port, destroying a number of buildings as well as vessels. The fishermen who are based there strenuously deny that any arms, including rocket launchers have been based there.

The Guardian (Peter Beaumont, July, 16, 2014)

The first projectile hit the sea wall of Gaza City's little harbour just after four o'clock. As the smoke from the explosion thinned, four figures could be seen running, ragged silhouettes, legs pumping furiously along the wall. Even from a distance of 200 metres, it was obvious that three of them were children. Jumping off the harbour wall, they turned on to the beach, attempting to cross the short distance to the safety of the Al-Deira hotel, base for many of the journalists covering the Gaza conflict. They waved and shouted at the watching journalists as they passed a little collection of brightly coloured beach tents, used by bathers in peacetime.

It was there that the second shell hit the beach, those firing apparently adjusting their fire to target the fleeing survivors. As it exploded, journalists standing by the terrace wall shouted: "They are only children." In the space of 40 seconds, four boys who had been playing hide and seek among fishermen's shacks on the wall were dead.

Reuters (July 16, 2014)

Ahmed Abu Hassera, who witnessed the incident at the shore, told Reuters: "The kids were playing on the beach. They were all ... under the age of 15."

"When the first shell hit land, they ran away but another shell hit them all," said Abu Hassera, whose shirt was stained with blood. "It looked as if the shells were chasing them."

Israeli shelling has frequently targeted Gaza beaches, which Israel suspects are staging areas for militants.

Haaretz (Anshel Pfeffer, July 16, 2014)

Beaumont, who has been in Gaza for the last nine days, said that during the time he has been at the hotel, that area of the harbor has been hit by the IDF "at least three times."

 ....

The IDF Spokesperson unit had difficulty coming up with an explanation for the explosions which killed the four children and wounded others and it took a few hours for them to begin to respond. Toward 8 P.M they began briefing reporters that the first explosion was most likely caused by an attack on a "legitimate" Hamas target and the second the result of misidentification of the fleeing children as Hamas fighters. The incident is still under investigation, said IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Moti Almoz. He said on Channel One that "we understand there was a target which was hit after suspects were identified. 

Remember that Hamas uses civilians as live targets opposite IDF. I don't know officers and soldiers who intentionally act against civilians." Almoz said that from what the IDF knows so far "this wasn't fire by the navy but likely an IAF strike." 

Beaumont says that he has no idea what the target could have been. "The building that was hit was just a shipping container next to where one of the kids' father keeps his boat and stores fishing nets. The kids were just playing hide and seek there. They shoot missiles (against Israel) from this neighborhood but none from that location." 

Aljazeera Article (July 17, 2014)

Al Jazeera's Dekker, who was at the scene when the incident happened, said she had seen no evidence of Hamas targets in the area.

Main Points As Ascertained Through the Eyewitness Testimonies and News Reporting

1) The Gaza harbor has been targeted at least three times by the Israeli military.

2) None of the previous bombings had ever reached as close as it did on July 16, 2014.

3) No evidence of Hamas targets in the area.

4) The shack on the beach that was targeted was an old decrepit building that did not have running water and electricity. It was used as a place for storing fish nets by the fishermen.

5) Children were known to often play on the beach. In fact, journalists reported being familiar with some of the fishermen's children who played on the beach.

6) It was a clear day with good visibility. Journalists who were at a distance could easily make out the running figures to be children.

With approximately a dozen international journalists witnessing this tragic event from a few feet away, the Israeli military aimed their weapons at unarmed children between 9 and 10 years old while they were playing in the beach. Interestingly, the hotel which was known to host international journalists and which was located just a few feet away was not targeted by the Israeli military.

So if the Israeli military's intent was not to kill the children, the eyes of the Israeli military (or to be precise, whoever was operating the artillery machines) may have been momentarily blinded so as to see something that no one else at the scene could - i.e. Hamas militants instead of children running away.

Is the Violence and Destruction in Gaza a Deliberate Israeli Policy?

Is the Deadly Violence and Destruction in Gaza a Deliberate Israeli Military Policy?

Israel's Operation Protective Edge military campaign against Gaza is now entering its seventh day. The death toll in Gaza is rapidly rising (reaching 183 as of July 14, 2014), and it has now surpassed the death toll in the last major Israeli military campaign in Gaza, i.e., Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, which saw 171 Palestinians killed. 

The Israeli government has repeatedly stated that it is prepared to continue the aerial bombardment of Gaza despite the rising civilian casualties (the UN has reported that 77% of the Palestinians killed in the bombardment are civilians and two-thirds of the injured are women and children). It has also stationed thousands of its troops on the border with Gaza, with warnings that a land invasion is imminent. And on July 13, 2014, it was reported that the Israeli military had made its first ground incursion into Gaza, exchanging fire with Hamas soldiers, with an intent to disable a Hamas rocket site. This came a day after a particularly bloody aerial bombardment campaign in which at least 53 Palestinians were killed in their homes. Soon after this land incursion, it was reported that the Israeli military dropped leaflets in 3 neighborhoods of a northern Gaza area called Beit Lahiya, telling its residents to leave their homes before an impending attack. There are 70,000 Palestinians living in the Beit Lahiya area. Although, Hamas dismissed the Israeli warnings as "psychological warfare", the UN reported that at least 4000 Palestinians from Beit Lahiya have fled to Gaza city, holing up in UN-run schools; up to 17,000 Palestinians in all from northern Gaza have sought refuge in various UN facilities.

The UN also reports that the Israeli military has made phone calls to households in various Gaza neighborhoods, playing recorded messages, warning its residents to evacuate their homes - while people have not taken heed thus far, the UN reports that should things worsen in coming days, 300,000 Palestinians could be displaced.

Bombs Dropped in Gaza by the Israeli Military

Even if the mainstream media and certain world leaders attempt to sanitize (or even rationalize) the brutality of the aerial attacks on the Palestinians, and the consequent catastrophic destruction of people's living spaces and essential infrastructure in Gaza, the devastating human toll of Israel's military campaign on the civilians in Gaza is evident via the social media, where raw images are published and shared. 

Israel's standard refrain of self-defense, which it has used repeatedly in previous military campaigns against Palestinians, i.e., the air strikes are meant to disable Hamas' ability to send rockets into Israel, do not easily resonate with as many people, as it may have done in the past. By the Israeli military's own account, its Iron Dome missile shield is successfully intercepting the Hamas rockets. So far, there has been no reports of Israeli fatalities or serious injuries from the Hamas rocket fire compared to the large numbers of fatalities and injured civilians in Gaza that has been inflicted by the Israeli military. Furthermore, despite the deadly air strikes that Israel claims is targeting Hamas rocket installations "hidden" in civilian residences/mosques/hospitals/schools, Israel has not reported an abatement of Hamas rockets fired into their country. This then lends credence to the growing criticism that Israel is using disproportionate force.

In Israel's two other recent major military campaigns against the Palestinians, one can argue that there is an observable pattern of Israeli military engagement with the Palestinians - an engagement that inflicts as much human suffering and deadly carnage, and infrastructure destruction to Palestinians so as to demonstrate Israeli military dominance and thus gain a period of peace through deterrence. 

This engagement policy was apparently developed out of Israel's failures during the 2006 war with South Lebanon, which led to the Dahiyah Doctrine.

In 2008, one top Israeli military officer is quoted saying with regards to the Dahiyah Doctrine: "We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases," he said. "This isn't a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorized." 

Another top Israeli military officer states: "The answer to rocket and missile threats from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip is a disproportionate strike at the heart of the enemy's weak spot, in which efforts to hurt launch capability are secondary. As soon as the conflict breaks out, the IDF will have to operate in a rapid, determined, powerful and disproportionate way against the enemy's actions. This strike has to be carried out as quickly as possible, through prioritizing strikes at its assets, rather than chasing after launch sites. Such a response is likely to be remembered by decision makers in Syria and Lebanon for many years, thus deepening deterrence." 

Some months after the above comments by the Israeli generals, the Israel's Operation Cast Lead began with devastating consequences, amid revelations that even chemical warfare was used by Israeli military against the civilian population in Gaza.

Operation Cast Lead (2008): Palestinians killed - 1,391. Israelis killed - 13.

Operation Pillar of Defense (2012): Palestinians killed - 171. Israelis killed - 6.

Operation Protective Edge (2014): Palestinians killed so far (July 14, 2014) - 183. Israelis killed - 0.

By one journalist's account, Hamas rocket firings, which averaged 240 per month in 2007 had dropped to five per month in 2013, which was at a "tolerable" level, with no Israeli fatalities, barring the six during exchanges in Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012.

If there was relative peace throughout these last few years, why then have the situation escalated drastically?

Possible Purposeful Escalation by Israel

Some have suggested, such as an American Jewish group and a Jewish writer that the Israeli government created an incendiary environment that was conducive to an escalation after three Israeli young men were kidnapped and murdered. Racist commentary targeted at Arabs in the Israeli media creating mass hysteria, false accusations, raiding Palestinian homes, and arbitrary arrests and detainment of hundreds of Palestinians during a three-week search for the missing young men; all of this done, when it was already known that the men had been killed a mere hours after being abducted by unknown assailants. This crucial information was with-held creating a tense situation

Israel pinned the blame on two Palestinian men that they claimed were Hamas members, an assertion that was denied by the men's family members and friends, as well as Hamas itself. After a Palestinian boy was kidnapped and burned alive in a revenge attack, things further deteriorated. And still, Hamas wanted to avoid conflict. Its political head, Khaled Meshal even went so far as to ask Turkey to intervene in the crisis with Israel and to convey a message that Hamas was interested in calming things down.

When Israel killed a Hamas member on June 29 in an air strike, and the Hamas rockets started again (the first since the 2012 cease-fire), which allowed Israel to begin its air strikes with impunity.

Restoring the Power Balance

It has been suggested that Hamas had begun to build up an arsenal of weapons while the Morsi administration was governing in Egypt, allegedly with the latter's help. While it may be difficult for Hamas to do so now with the Sisi administration in Egypt, the perception that Hamas was re-building military capability might have been enough of a concern to Israel. For instance, in March 2014, the Israeli navy claimed to have intercepted a ship headed to Gaza - on board were 40 rockets with 100 mile range.

In this current engagement, Hamas has managed to send rockets to Dimona (location of Israel's nuclear reactors) which is located nearly 65 kilometers from Gaza. And Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner claimed that a Hamas rocket that struck the town of Hadera, more than 70 miles from Gaza was, similar to those found on the ship stopped by Israel in march. Lerner was quoted as saying: “We said back then that this was a game-changer."

If Israel indeed took advantage of the situation surrounding the three missing (then murdered) young Israeli men, then they may have done so to restore its perceived notion of a power balance. And it is doing so by using its tried and tested Dahiyah Doctrine to display disproportionate power to inflict as much violence and destruction as necessary.

So when Khaled Meshaal of Hamas says that the war was "forced upon us", there would appear to be some truth to it. And as usual, it is the people of Gaza that suffers.

Death Toll of Palestinians in Israel's Operation Protective Edge

Impact of July 2014 Israel's Operation Protective Edge on Palestinians
(Breakdown of Palestinian Deaths by Age Group)

Israel's Operation Protective Edge (i.e. the aerial bombardment of Gaza) is now into its seventh day. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has said that this campaign could take time, and that Israel was prepared to continue it.

“We are hitting Hamas with continuing and greater strength,” he said. “Hamas is using Gaza's civilians as human shields.” (Source: The Jerusalem Post)

Netanyahu claims that Hamas is hiding in mosques, putting arms storehouses in hospitals, and placing their command centers near kindergartens. And he blames Hamas for bringing harm to the civilian population in Gaza.

The lack of Israeli fatalities thus far has been explained by Israel's Prime Minister as the successful interception of Hamas rockets by their anti-rocket systems.

Since Tuesday, July 8 2014, 183 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli air bombardment. Approximately 1260 have been injured, and dozens are in very serious conditions. The majority of the wounded are children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Death toll in Israeli is zero.

Here is the breakdown of the death toll of Palestinians by age group, where the age data was available (156 individuals).

0 - 5 years old: 

8

6- 12 years old: 

12

13 - 18 years old: 

21

19 - 49 years old: 

91

50 and beyond: 

24

Names of the Palestinians Killed

Killed Tuesday, July 8, 2014

1. Mohammad Sha’ban, 24, Gaza.
2. Amjad Sha’ban, 30, Gaza.
3. Khader al-Basheeleqety, 45, Gaza.
4. Rashad Yassin, 27, Nusseirat.
5. Mohammad Ayman ‘Ashour, 15, Khan Younis.
6. Riyadh Mohammad Kaware’, 50, Khan Younis.
7. Bakr Mohammad Joudeh, 50, Khan Younis.
8. Ammar Mohammad Joudeh, 26, Khan Younis.
9. Hussein Yousef Kaware’, 13, Khan Younis.
10. Bassem Salem Kaware’, 10, Khan Younis.
11. Mohammad Ibrahim Kaware’, 50, Khan Younis.
12. Mohammad Habib, 22, Gaza.
13. Mousa Habib, 16, Gaza.
14. Saqr ‘Aayesh al-‘Ajjoury, 22, Jabalia.
15. Ahmad Nael Mahdi, 16, Gaza.
16. Hafeth Mohammad Hamad, 26, Beit Hanoun.
17. Ibrahim Mohammad Hamad, 26, Beit Hanoun.
18. Mahdi Mohammad Hamad, 46, Beit Hanoun.
19. Fawziyya Khalil Hamad, 62, Beit Hanoun.
20. Donia Mahdi Hamad, 16, Beit Hanoun.
21. Soha Hamad, 25, Beit Hanoun.
22. Suleiman Salam Abu Sawaween, 22, Khan Younis.
23. Siraj Eyad Abdul-‘Aal, 8, Khan Younis.
24. Abdul-Hadi Soufi, 24, Rafah.

Killed Wednesday, July 9, 2014

1. Hamed Shihab, Journalist – Gaza.
2. Salmiyya al-‘Arja, 53, Rafah.
3. Miriam ‘Atiya al-‘Arja, 9, Rafah.
4. Rafiq al-Kafarna, 30.
5. Abdul-Nasser Abu Kweik, 60.
6. Khaled Abu Kweik, 31.
7. Eyad Salem ‘Oraif, 12, Gaza City.
8. Mohammad 'Oraif, 10, Gaza City (Eyad's brother).
9. Mohammad Mustafa Malika, 18 months.
10. Hana’ Mohammed Fu’ad Malaka, 28 (Mohammad’s Mother), 27.
11. Hatem Abu Salem.
12. Mohammad Khaled an-Nimra, 22.
13. Sahar Hamdan (al-Masry), 40, Beit Hanoun.
14. Ibrahim al-Masry, 14, Beit Hanoun.
15. Amjad Hamdan, 23, Beit Hanoun.
16. Hani Saleh Hamad, 57, Beit Hanoun.
17. Ibrahim Hani Saleh Hamad, 20, Beit Hanoun.
18. Mohammad Khalaf Nawasra, 2, al-Maghazi.
19. Nidal Khalaf Nawasra, 4, al-Maghazi.
20. Salah Awad Nawasra, 24, al-Maghazi.
21. ‘Aesha Shubib al-Nawasra, 23, who was pregnant in the fourth month, al-Maghazi.
22. Naifa Mohammed Zaher Farajallah, 82, al-Mughraqa.
23. Aisha Najm.
24. Amal Yousef Abdul-Ghafour.
25. Ranim Jouda Abdul-Ghafour.
26. Ibrahim Daoud al-Bal’aawy.
27. Abdul-Rahman Jamal az-Zamely.
28. Ibrahim Ahmad ‘Abdin.
29. Mustafa Abu Murr.
30. Khaled Abu Murr.
31. Mazin Al-Jarba.
32. Marwan Eslayyem.
33. Hatem Abu Salem, Gaza City.
34. Nariman Abdul-Ghafour, Khan Younis.
35. Ra’ed Mohammed Abu Shalat, 35, al-Nussairat.
36. Yasmin al-Mautawaq, 3, Gaza City.
37. Ahmad Swali, 28, al-Nussairat.

Killed Thursday, July 10, 2014

1. Mahmoud Lutfi al-Hajj, 57, Khan Younis. (father of six killed)
2. Bassema ‘Abdul Qader Mohammed al-Hajj, 48, Khan Younis. (mother of six killed)
3. Asma’ Mahmoud al-Hajj, 22, Khan Younis.
5. Sa’ad Mahmoud al-Hajj, 17, Khan Younis.
6. Najla’ Mahmoud al-Hajj, 29, Khan Younis.
7. Tareq Sa’ad al-Hajj, 18, Khan Younis.
8. Omar al-Hajj, 20, Khan Younis.
9. Baha’ Abu al-Leil, 35, Gaza City.
10. Suleiman Saleem Mousa al-Astal, 17, Khan Younis.
11. Ahmed Saleem Mousa al-Astal, 18, Khan Younis (Suleiman’s brother)
12. Mousa Mohammed Taher al-Astal, 15, Khan Younis.
13. Ibrahim Khalil Qanan, 24, Khan Younis.
14. Mohammad Khalil Qanan, 26, Khan Younis (Ibrahim’s brother).
15. Ibrahim Sawali, 28, Khan Younis.
16. Saleem Sawali, 23, Khan Younis.
17. Hamdi Sawali, 18, Khan Younis.
18. Mohammad al-‘Aqqad, 24, Khan Younis.
19. Ismael Abu Jame’, 19, Khan Younis.
20. Hussein Abu Jame’, 57, Khan Younis (Ismael’s father).
21. Ramadan Abu Ghazal, 5, Beit Lahia.
22. Ehsan Ferwana, 19, Khan Younis.
23. Salem Qandil, 27, Gaza City.
24. Amer al-Fayyoumi, 30, Gaza City.

Killed Friday, July 11, 2014

1. Wisam Abdul-Razeq Ghannam, 23, Rafah.
2. Mohammad Abdul-Razeq Ghannam, 26, Rafah.
3. Kifah Shihada Ghannam, 20, Rafah.
4. Ghalia Thieb Ghannam, 7, Rafah.
5. Mohammad Munir ‘Ashour, 25, Rafah.
6. Nour an-Ajdi, 10, Rafah.
7. Anas Rezeq abu al-Kas, 30, Gaza City (doctor).
8. Abdullah abu Mahrouq, Deir al-Balah.
9. Mohammad Waloud, Beit Lahia
10. Hazem Ba’lousha, Beit Lahia.
11. Ala' Abdul Nabi, Beit Lahia
12. Ahmed Zaher Hamdan, 22, Beit Hanoun.
13. Mohammad al-Kahlout, 38, Jabalia.
14. Sami Adnan Shaldan, 25, Gaza City
15. Salem al-Ashhab,40, Gaza City.
16. Raed Abu Hani, 50, Rafah.
17.Rabea Abu- Hmeedan, 65, Jabalia.
18.Mazen Aslan, Shahrman, Al-Bureij.
19. Abu el-Kas, Al Bureij.
20. Shahd Helmi al-Qrynawi, 5, Al-Bureij.
21. Mohammad Samiri, 24, Deir al-Balah.
22. Rami Abu Mosa’ed, 24, Deir al-Balah.
23. Saber Sokkar, 80, Gaza City.
24. Hussein Mohammad al-Mamlouk, 47, Gaza City.
25. Nasser Rabah Sammama, 46, Gaza City.
26. Abdul-Halim Abdul-Mo’ty Ashra, 52, Deir al-Balah.
27. Sahar Salman Abu Namous, 4, Beit Hanoun.

Killed Saturday, July 12, 2014

1. Anas Yousef Qandil, 17, Jabalia.
2. Yousef Mohammad Qandil, 47, Jabalia.
3. Mohammad Edrees Abu Sneina, 20, Jabalia.
4. Abdul-Rahman Saleh al-Khatib, 38, Jabalia.
5. Husam Thieb ar-Razayna, 38, Jabalia.
6. Ibrahim Nabil Hamada, at-Tuffah - Gaza City.
7. Hasan Ahmad Abu Ghush, at-Tuffah - Gaza City.
8. Ahmad Mazen al-Bal’awy, at-Tuffah - Gaza City.
9. Ali Nabil Basal, 32, at-Tuffah - Gaza City.
10. Mohammad Bassem al-Halaby, 28, western Gaza City.
11. Mohammad Sweity (Abu Askar), 20, western Gaza City.
12. Khawla al-Hawajri, 24, Nuseirat refugee camp.
13. Ola Wishahi, 31, Mabarra association for the disabled in Jabalia.
14. Suha Abu Saade, 38, Mabarra association for the disabled in Jabalia.
15. Khalwa al-Hawajra, 24.
16. Rateb Subhi al-Saifi, 22, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City.
17. Azmi Mahmoud Obeid, 51, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City.
18. Nidal Muhammad Abu al-Malsh, 22, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City.
19. Suleiman Said Obeid, 56, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City.
20. Mustafa Muhammad Inaya, 58, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City.
21. Ghassan Ahmad al-Masri, 25, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City.
22. Rif’at Youssef Amer, 36, al-Saftawi.
23. Rif’at Syouti, western Gaza City.
24. Nahedh Na’im al-Batsh, 41, Khan Younis.
25. Baha’ Majed al-Batsh, 28, Khan Younis.
26. Qusai Issam al-Batsh, 12, Khan Younis.
27. Aziza Yousef al-Batsh, 59, Khan Younis.
28. Ahmad No’man al-Batsh, 27, Khan Younis.
29. Mohammad Issam al-Batsh, 17, Khan Younis.
30. Yahia ‘Ala’ Al-Batsh, 18, Khan Younis.
31. Jalal Majed al-Batsh, 26, Khan Younis.
32. Mahmoud Majed al-Batsh, 22, Khan Younis
33. Majed Sobhi al-Batsh, Khan Younis.
34. Marwa Majed al-Batsh, 25, Khan Younis.
35. Khaled Majed al-Batsh, 20, Khan Younis.
36. Ibrahim Majed al-Batsh, 18, Khan Younis.
37. Manar Majed al-Batsh, 13, Khan Younis.
38. Amal Hussein al-Batsh, 10, Khan Younis.
39. Anas Ala’ al-Batsh, 10, Khan Younis.
40. Qusai Ala’ al-Batsh, 20, Khan Younis.
41. Zakariyya Ala’ al-Natsh, 20, Khan Younis.
42. Mohannad Yousef Dheir, 23, Rafah.
43. Mohammad Zo’rob, 21, Rafah.
44. Imad Bassam Zo’rob, 21, Rafah.
45. Mohannad Yousef Dheir, 23, Rafah.
46. Mohammad Arif, 13, eastern Gaza City.
47. Mohammad Ghazi ‘Arif, 35, eastern Gaza City.
48. Amir ‘Arif, 10, eastern Gaza City.
49. Ghazi Mustafa Arif, 62, eastern Gaza City.
50. Ahmad Yousef Dalloul, 57, Gaza.
51. Fadi Ya’coub Sukkar, 25, Gaza.
52. Qassem Jaber Odah, 16, Khan Younis.
53. Mohammad Abdullah Sharatha, 23, Jabalia.

Killed Sunday, July 13, 2014
 
1. Ezzeddin Bolbol, Rafah.
2. Rami Abu Shanab, 25, Deir al-Balah.
3. Ramzya Abdul-al, 73, Gaza City.
4. Mo’ayyad al-‘Araj, 2, Khan Younis.
5. Husam Ibrahim Najjar, 14, Jabalia.
6. Hijaziyya al-Hilo, 80, Gaza City.
7. Huwaida abu Harb, 44, central Gaza.
8. Haitham Ashraf Zo’rob, 21, Rafah.
9. Mo’sab Daher, 22, Deir al Balah.
10. Laila Hassan al-‘Oweidat, 35, al-Maghazi.
11. Hussein Abdul-Qader Mheisin, 14, Gaza.
12. Qassem Talal Hamdan, 23, Beit Hanoun.
13. Maher abu Mour, 23, Khan Younis
14. Mohammad abu Breis, 64, Deir al-Balah
15. Moussa Moammer, 60, Rafah.
16. Hanadi Moammer, 27, Rafah.
17. Saddam Moammer, 24, Rafah.

Killed Monday, July 14, 2014
 
1. Adham Abdul-Fattah Abdul-‘Aal, 27

*we will update this page accordingly.

An Article Worth Reading: Oxford University Professor Avi Shlaim on Gaza War

I came across this article sometime ago. It was published at the Guardian Online on Jan. 7, 2009. I meant to put it up because I thought it was a good article worth the time to read. The writer is an Israeli, an ex-IDF personnel, and someone who had actually fought in Israel's wars. He is now a professor at a top university in the UK. His conclusions bear attention....

How Israel brought Gaza to the Brink of Humanitarian Catastrophe
By Avi Shlaim, Oxford University Professor of International Relations

The only way to make sense of Israel's senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders". I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel's vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration's complicity in this assault, have reopened the question.

I write as someone who served loyally in the Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly reject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the Green Line. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the June 1967 war had very little to do with security and everything to do with territorial expansionism. The aim was to establish Greater Israel through permanent political, economic and military control over the Palestinian territories. And the result has been one of the most prolonged and brutal military occupations of modern times.

Four decades of Israeli control did incalculable damage to the economy of the Gaza Strip. With a large population of 1948 refugees crammed into a tiny strip of land, with no infrastructure or natural resources, Gaza's prospects were never bright. Gaza, however, is not simply a case of economic under-development but a uniquely cruel case of deliberate de-development. To use the Biblical phrase, Israel turned the people of Gaza into the hewers of wood and the drawers of water, into a source of cheap labour and a captive market for Israeli goods. The development of local industry was actively impeded so as to make it impossible for the Palestinians to end their subordination to Israel and to establish the economic underpinnings essential for real political independence.

Gaza is a classic case of colonial exploitation in the post-colonial era. Jewish settlements in occupied territories are immoral, illegal and an insurmountable obstacle to peace. They are at once the instrument of exploitation and the symbol of the hated occupation. In Gaza, the Jewish settlers numbered only 8,000 in 2005 compared with 1.4 million local residents. Yet the settlers controlled 25% of the territory, 40% of the arable land and the lion's share of the scarce water resources. Cheek by jowl with these foreign intruders, the majority of the local population lived in abject poverty and unimaginable misery. Eighty per cent of them still subsist on less than $2 a day. The living conditions in the strip remain an affront to civilised values, a powerful precipitant to resistance and a fertile breeding ground for political extremism.

In August 2005 a Likud government headed by Ariel Sharon staged a unilateral Israeli pullout from Gaza, withdrawing all 8,000 settlers and destroying the houses and farms they had left behind. Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement, conducted an effective campaign to drive the Israelis out of Gaza. The withdrawal was a humiliation for the Israeli Defence Forces. To the world, Sharon presented the withdrawal from Gaza as a contribution to peace based on a two-state solution. But in the year after, another 12,000 Israelis settled on the West Bank, further reducing the scope for an independent Palestinian state. Land-grabbing and peace-making are simply incompatible. Israel had a choice and it chose land over peace.

The real purpose behind the move was to redraw unilaterally the borders of Greater Israel by incorporating the main settlement blocs on the West Bank to the state of Israel. Withdrawal from Gaza was thus not a prelude to a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority but a prelude to further Zionist expansion on the West Bank. It was a unilateral Israeli move undertaken in what was seen, mistakenly in my view, as an Israeli national interest. Anchored in a fundamental rejection of the Palestinian national identity, the withdrawal from Gaza was part of a long-term effort to deny the Palestinian people any independent political existence on their land.

Israel's settlers were withdrawn but Israeli soldiers continued to control all access to the Gaza Strip by land, sea and air. Gaza was converted overnight into an open-air prison. From this point on, the Israeli air force enjoyed unrestricted freedom to drop bombs, to make sonic booms by flying low and breaking the sound barrier, and to terrorise the hapless inhabitants of this prison.

Israel likes to portray itself as an island of democracy in a sea of authoritarianism. Yet Israel has never in its entire history done anything to promote democracy on the Arab side and has done a great deal to undermine it. Israel has a long history of secret collaboration with reactionary Arab regimes to suppress Palestinian nationalism. Despite all the handicaps, the Palestinian people succeeded in building the only genuine democracy in the Arab world with the possible exception of Lebanon. In January 2006, free and fair elections for the Legislative Council of the Palestinian Authority brought to power a Hamas-led government. Israel, however, refused to recognise the democratically elected government, claiming that Hamas is purely and simply a terrorist organisation.

America and the EU shamelessly joined Israel in ostracising and demonising the Hamas government and in trying to bring it down by withholding tax revenues and foreign aid. A surreal situation thus developed with a significant part of the international community imposing economic sanctions not against the occupier but against the occupied, not against the oppressor but against the oppressed.

As so often in the tragic history of Palestine, the victims were blamed for their own misfortunes. Israel's propaganda machine persistently purveyed the notion that the Palestinians are terrorists, that they reject coexistence with the Jewish state, that their nationalism is little more than antisemitism, that Hamas is just a bunch of religious fanatics and that Islam is incompatible with democracy. But the simple truth is that the Palestinian people are a normal people with normal aspirations. They are no better but they are no worse than any other national group. What they aspire to, above all, is a piece of land to call their own on which to live in freedom and dignity.

Like other radical movements, Hamas began to moderate its political programme following its rise to power. From the ideological rejectionism of its charter, it began to move towards pragmatic accommodation of a two-state solution. In March 2007, Hamas and Fatah formed a national unity government that was ready to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with Israel. Israel, however, refused to negotiate with a government that included Hamas.

It continued to play the old game of divide and rule between rival Palestinian factions. In the late 1980s, Israel had supported the nascent Hamas in order to weaken Fatah, the secular nationalist movement led by Yasser Arafat. Now Israel began to encourage the corrupt and pliant Fatah leaders to overthrow their religious political rivals and recapture power. Aggressive American neoconservatives participated in the sinister plot to instigate a Palestinian civil war. Their meddling was a major factor in the collapse of the national unity government and in driving Hamas to seize power in Gaza in June 2007 to pre-empt a Fatah coup.

The war unleashed by Israel on Gaza on 27 December was the culmination of a series of clashes and confrontations with the Hamas government. In a broader sense, however, it is a war between Israel and the Palestinian people, because the people had elected the party to power. The declared aim of the war is to weaken Hamas and to intensify the pressure until its leaders agree to a new ceasefire on Israel's terms. The undeclared aim is to ensure that the Palestinians in Gaza are seen by the world simply as a humanitarian problem and thus to derail their struggle for independence and statehood.

The timing of the war was determined by political expediency. A general election is scheduled for 10 February and, in the lead-up to the election, all the main contenders are looking for an opportunity to prove their toughness. The army top brass had been champing at the bit to deliver a crushing blow to Hamas in order to remove the stain left on their reputation by the failure of the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in July 2006. Israel's cynical leaders could also count on apathy and impotence of the pro-western Arab regimes and on blind support from President Bush in the twilight of his term in the White House. Bush readily obliged by putting all the blame for the crisis on Hamas, vetoing proposals at the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and issuing Israel with a free pass to mount a ground invasion of Gaza.

As always, mighty Israel claims to be the victim of Palestinian aggression but the sheer asymmetry of power between the two sides leaves little room for doubt as to who is the real victim. This is indeed a conflict between David and Goliath but the Biblical image has been inverted - a small and defenceless Palestinian David faces a heavily armed, merciless and overbearing Israeli Goliath. The resort to brute military force is accompanied, as always, by the shrill rhetoric of victimhood and a farrago of self-pity overlaid with self-righteousness. In Hebrew this is known as the syndrome of bokhim ve-yorim, "crying and shooting".

To be sure, Hamas is not an entirely innocent party in this conflict. Denied the fruit of its electoral victory and confronted with an unscrupulous adversary, it has resorted to the weapon of the weak - terror. Militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad kept launching Qassam rocket attacks against Israeli settlements near the border with Gaza until Egypt brokered a six-month ceasefire last June. The damage caused by these primitive rockets is minimal but the psychological impact is immense, prompting the public to demand protection from its government. Under the circumstances, Israel had the right to act in self-defence but its response to the pinpricks of rocket attacks was totally disproportionate. The figures speak for themselves. In the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. On the other hand, in 2005-7 alone, the IDF killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.

Whatever the numbers, killing civilians is wrong. This rule applies to Israel as much as it does to Hamas, but Israel's entire record is one of unbridled and unremitting brutality towards the inhabitants of Gaza. Israel also maintained the blockade of Gaza after the ceasefire came into force which, in the view of the Hamas leaders, amounted to a violation of the agreement. During the ceasefire, Israel prevented any exports from leaving the strip in clear violation of a 2005 accord, leading to a sharp drop in employment opportunities. Officially, 49.1% of the population is unemployed. At the same time, Israel restricted drastically the number of trucks carrying food, fuel, cooking-gas canisters, spare parts for water and sanitation plants, and medical supplies to Gaza. It is difficult to see how starving and freezing the civilians of Gaza could protect the people on the Israeli side of the border. But even if it did, it would still be immoral, a form of collective punishment that is strictly forbidden by international humanitarian law.

The brutality of Israel's soldiers is fully matched by the mendacity of its spokesmen. Eight months before launching the current war on Gaza, Israel established a National Information Directorate. The core messages of this directorate to the media are that Hamas broke the ceasefire agreements; that Israel's objective is the defence of its population; and that Israel's forces are taking the utmost care not to hurt innocent civilians. Israel's spin doctors have been remarkably successful in getting this message across. But, in essence, their propaganda is a pack of lies.

A wide gap separates the reality of Israel's actions from the rhetoric of its spokesmen. It was not Hamas but the IDF that broke the ceasefire. It di d so by a raid into Gaza on 4 November that killed six Hamas men. Israel's objective is not just the defence of its population but the eventual overthrow of the Hamas government in Gaza by turning the people against their rulers. And far from taking care to spare civilians, Israel is guilty of indiscriminate bombing and of a three-year-old blockade that has brought the inhabitants of Gaza, now 1.5 million, to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Biblical injunction of an eye for an eye is savage enough. But Israel's insane offensive against Gaza seems to follow the logic of an eye for an eyelash. After eight days of bombing, with a death toll of more than 400 Palestinians and four Israelis, the gung-ho cabinet ordered a land invasion of Gaza the consequences of which are incalculable.

No amount of military escalation can buy Israel immunity from rocket attacks from the military wing of Hamas. Despite all the death and destruction that Israel has inflicted on them, they kept up their resistance and they kept firing their rockets. This is a movement that glorifies victimhood and martyrdom. There is simply no military solution to the conflict between the two communities. The problem with Israel's concept of security is that it denies even the most elementary security to the other community. The only way for Israel to achieve security is not through shooting but through talks with Hamas, which has repeatedly declared its readiness to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with the Jewish state within its pre-1967 borders for 20, 30, or even 50 years. Israel has rejected this offer for the same reason it spurned the Arab League peace plan of 2002, which is still on the table: it involves concessions and compromises.

This brief review of Israel's record over the past four decades makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that it has become a rogue state with "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders". A rogue state habitually violates international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction and practises terrorism - the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. Israel fulfils all of these three criteria; the cap fits and it must wear it. Israel's real aim is not peaceful coexistence with its Palestinian neighbours but military domination. It keeps compounding the mistakes of the past with new and more disastrous ones. Politicians, like everyone else, are of course free to repeat the lies and mistakes of the past. But it is not mandatory to do so.

• Avi Shlaim is a professor of international relations at the University of Oxford and the author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World and of Lion of Jordan: King Hussein's Life in War and Peace.

Article Obtained from the Guardian (UK).

The World Watches As Gaza Burns

I can understand why so many people choose not to follow the news. Being oblivious to the pain and suffering of people so far removed would allow one to work, play and live psychologically unencumbered. But I am one of those who has to follow the news - in the past, staying informed was part of what I had to do for several reasons, partly educational and professional, now it's become a part of who I am.

So I am often haunted by horrific accounts of the injustice, turmoil and violence brought upon the innocent through the actions of humankind. And the images that stay in my mind are often the faces of the most defenseless - children caught in the middle of a strife they cannot comprehend. Be it the beseeching big eyes of the nameless Rwandan child on Time magazine way back then, or little Mohammad al-Dura's final moments as he huddled by his father amidst gunfire. God only knows how many other innocents suffer, robbed of a childhood, or are taken away in violence.

The continuing crisis in Gaza bothers me for many reasons - now I have to contend with new images to add to my already burdensome gallery of conscience. When people accuse the Israeli military of being baby killers, I do think, given the facts on the ground, it's a literal assessment of the reality.

It is difficult to rationalize the continuation of a mission with an aim of "preventing rocket fire capability" when it's still not achieveable after 19 days and nearly 1000 Palestinian deaths (most of them civilians, and over 300 of them children). By comparsion, deaths incurred by the Israelis through Hamas rockets is a handful (but apparently a handful too much in the unjust scale of human life value). The disproportionate death ratio should be evidence enough that the "weaponry" arsenal of Hamas is limited and out-dated, compared to the Israeli arsenal, which is the best and modern weaponry available (obtained from the US).

Depending on where you stand, the Israeli attacks can be viewed as an act of defense in response to rocket attacks, or an illegal act under international law, which requires the occupier (Israel) to maintain responsibilities and obligations to the people (Gazans) it is occupying; that is not do all the things Israel did prior to the attacks.

But one would be hard pressed to argue that Israel's defense argument is still valid given the situation unfolding - Israel has now committed blatant criminal acts, for example, through the use of chemical weapons (Human Rights Watch has reported that Israel is dropping them into Gaza's dense residential areas) and the preventing medical personnel from carrying out their duties in evacuating the wounded (Red Cross found barely alive children next to their dead mothers in a village).

Israel has argued that the continuation of the sporadic rocket fire is justification enough to carry out the war, never mind the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of their miliary actions. But to expect Hamas to stop their attempts at defense when faced with Israel's relentless onslaught is farcical. Like it or not, Hamas is the democratically elected representative of the Gaza people - it is their duty to protect the citizens.

Someone (I would expect the more powerful nation) has to be the one to say enough is enough - but Israel has refused to step up to its obligations to be a responsible nation. What bothers Israel most is that Hamas is even attempting to fight back, posturing and showing defiance in the face of death. What Israel fears by withdrawing would be Hamas declaring a victory, by virtue of having survived the onslaught.

Israel desires an outright psychological defeat in the minds of the Palestinians more than anything else - but it fails to understand that a people with nothing to lose, have nothing to fear.

A Palestinian child, when asked by a reporter why he chose to throw stones at an unseen enemy, and not run to cover when the Israeli air strikes began, replied that it was pointless to run when the bombs would reach him faster than wherever he could run to.

Human Rights Watch: Israel Violating International Law by Using Chemical Weapons

Have you seen the videos of air bombs falling ito Gaza and wondered what the whitish powder was? Well, it's not smoke from the fires apparently. Human Rights Watch have reported that the white powder is actually from the white phosphorous bombs that Israel is dropping into Gaza.

Well, this is a violation of international law (never mind the fact that the war was already a violation of international law).

While international law allows such chemical weapons to be used in battlefields as a smokescreen, the material is considered dangerous in residential areas due to the severe burns it inflicts, as well as its highly flammable quality.

From Haaretz:
"Based on his observations last week, HRW military analyst Mark Garlasco determined that the IDF is using the material, although the army has not confirmed its use.

In 2006 Israel acknowledged for the first time that it had attacked Hezbollah targets during the second Lebanon war with phosphorus shells. Until then Israel had maintained that it only used such bombs to mark targets or territory.

Phosphorus has been used by armies since World War I. During World War II and Vietnam the U.S. and British armies made extensive use of phosphorus. During recent decades the tendency has been to ban the use of phosphorus munitions against any target, civilian or military, because of the severity of the injuries that the substance causes".

Using such chemical weapons in densely populated Gaza is a criminal act.

Seems that the rule of law is only for the select few.

This is how a dead victim of phosphorus bombs looks like.

If you are American, here is what you can do, as suggested by Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR):

URGENT ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and RESPECTFUL.)

1. Call your U.S. Representative and urge her or him to ensure that any resolutions or statements coming from Congress are balanced and promote peace with justice. This will ensure that the international community does not perceive that the U.S. government is divided on the goal of bringing a just and durable peace. (Find suggested talking points below.)

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your representative's office.

2. Call the House Speaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and urge them to ensure that any resolutions or statements coming from Congress are balanced and promote peace with justice. This will ensure that the international community does not perceive that the U.S. government is divided on the goal of bringing a just and durable peace. (Find suggested talking points below.)

(If you are not a constituent be sure to mention that you are calling them in their leadership roles. If you reach an answering machine, feel free to leave a message.)

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House
Phone: (202) 225-0100
Webform: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)
Phone: 202-225-4695
Webform: http://www.house.gov/berman/contact/
Berman is chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Call the committee at: 202-225-5021

Sample talking points:

I urge you to ensure that any congressional resolutions or statements relating to the Middle East conflict are balanced and promote peace with justice in the region.
Balanced statements will ensure that the international community does not perceive that the U.S. government is divided on the goal of bringing a just and durable peace.

As you may know, Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians block efforts to bring peace with justice to the Middle East, harm our nation’s image and interests worldwide and strengthen voices of extremism in the region.

The Palestinian people must be given some hope of freedom from Israeli occupation and domination and Israel’s immoral and illegal collective punishment of the Palestinian people living in the Gaza Strip must end.

I also believe American taxpayer dollars should not be used to for weapons that kill civilians.

3. Sign CAIR's Online Petition urging our nation's leaders to speak "in favor of peace and justice for all parties in the current humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip." When completed, the petition will be sent to elected officials nationwide and will be given to members of the current and incoming administrations. Go to: http://petition.cair.com/

4. Pray for all those who are suffering and oppressed.

The Atrocities Continue in Gaza - The Children Suffer

It is 15 days and counting. To date the Israeli military operation have caused 854 Palestinians to be killed in Gaza; aid workers say that one-third of that figure are children. Keeping in mind that more than half of the population in Gaza are children, that figure may be much higher than reported. There are also 3680 injured Palestinians.

Reports by aid workers who have managed to enter the embattled areas have depicted the scenes as devastating - little children, weak and barely clinging on to life were found next to their dead mothers, little toddlers dead, and dead bodies of an extended family strewn in a village.

A UN aid worker described the Gaza civilians as being“the meat in the sandwich,” because they cannot flee anywhere since the borders are closed.

Here are some interesting facts obtained from a New York Times article - you can get a sense of how the atrocities are being perpetuated.

"The Israelis say they are also using new weapons, like a small-diameter smart bomb, the GBU-39, which Israel bought last fall from Washington".

"Israeli intelligence officers are telephoning Gazans and, in good Arabic, pretending to be sympathetic Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians or Libyans, Gazans say and Israel has confirmed"

"They aim the missiles at empty areas of the roofs to frighten residents into leaving the buildings, a tactic called a knock on the roof".

"The most important strategic decision the Israelis have made so far, according to senior military officers and analysts, is to approach their incursion as a war, not a police operation".

"Civilians are warned by leaflets, loudspeakers and telephone calls to evacuate battle areas. But troops are instructed to protect themselves first and civilians second".

"As the commander of the army’s elite combat engineering unit, Yahalom, told the Israeli press on Wednesday: “We are very violent. We do not balk at any means to protect the lives of our soldiers.” His name cannot be published under censorship rules."

"While The New York Times and some other news organizations have local or Gaza-based Palestinian correspondents, any Israeli citizen or Israeli with dual citizenship has been banned for more than two years from entering Gaza, and any foreign correspondent who did not enter the territory before a six-month cease-fire with Hamas ended last month has not been allowed in".

"Israel has also managed to block cellphone bandwidth, so very few amateur cellphone photographs are getting out of Gaza".

"In one widely reported episode, 43 people died when the Israelis shelled a street next to a United Nations school in northern Jabaliya where refugees were taking shelter. The United Nations says no militants were in the school"

The few pictures of the war in Gaza that have come out are horrific. It is all the more worse because Gaza has so many young children, and they bear the brunt of the war in more ways than just the physical risk of death. It would be easy to look away from such horror, but I think it is important to bear witness to the pain of the innocent.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Fear the cry of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and God."

Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 3, Number 1

What CAN we do to stop this injustice?

We can pray for there to be peace, and for the innocent deaths to stop.

We can spread what we know about this conflict through our writing and speaking.

When we hear misinformation, we should do what we can to stop it from spreading. The worst thing you can do is to stay silent because you are afraid of speaking the truth for fear of being labelled "extremist", "anti-semite" or "terrorist-lover" when you know different.

Speak out against injustice, for your silence may one day come to hurt you too.


Dead Mother and her Dead Children

Grieving over a Dead Baby

Dead Palestinian Children

A Palestinian man carries his son wounded in Israeli army operations into Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Ashraf Amra)

Palestinians carry a boy into Shifa hospital in Gaza City, wounded during the Israeli army operation in Gaza, Sunday Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Ashraf Amra)

A Child holds a banner reading, " Don't Kill the Children," during a protest after Friday prayer in front of the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Jan. 9, 2009

Analysis of Israel's Motives in Gaza

Israel's Motives

The following is my attempt at an analysis of Israel's motives behind the Gaza massacres.

Israel has said that the aim of its military operations in Gaza is to stop Hamas from launching rockets into Southern Israel. It is portrayed as a defensive act framed under "war on terror". Israel say it has tried to target key Hamas installations and infrastructures that enable the rocket attacks. So far, they have air bombed shopping centres, public squares, police stations, residential housings, mosques, universities and schools, and in the process also destroyed more than half of Gaza's ambulances.

That in itself shows the difficulty of Israel's attempt in achieving its objective in a place like Gaza: densely populated with little safe haven for civilians to run to when the bombs start falling. The UN has estimated that at least one-third of the casualities so far in Gaza are civilians. With the ground offensive underway, that number will only increase. As an indication of what may come to pass, Human Rights Watch reported that the last time Israeli tanks moved into Gaza, more than half of the Palestinian casualities were civilian.


Gaza by Latuff

There is no way Israel can limit its damage to Hamas installations or militants without adversely affecting the civilian population, and Israel knows this. Given the extent of the damage from Israel's military actions - the heavy costs bourne by the Gaza civilian population, the media reporting of the casualities that serves only to fuel public shock and anger against Israel's actions, and the eventual detereoration of Israel's public image worldwide, why would Israel even embark on such a mission? It is pure madness on Israel's part?

On the contrary, there is method (or a rationale) to this. Israel's military incursion is part of a broader plan to enforce a peace on its own terms. Yes, Israel is after peace (it needs peace), but it is after a peace that is established on its own terms.

However, Israel cannot achieve what it wants through an agreement with Hamas. Ever since Hamas was democratically elected by the Gaza people in 2006, it has been a constant thorn at Israel's side. Efforts to stymie Hamas' ability to govern under the mandate of the Gaza people had the effect of strengthening its appeal. Despite what Israel did (essentially turning Gaza into a prison camp through illegal blockades - Gazans had no control over its own borders - land, air and sea, and were reduced to begging for food, medicine and fuel) Hamas only grew stronger in Gaza, and this weakened the only other party in Gaza that Israel could negotiate with.

Negotiating with Hamas would have been unthinkable for Israel - not because of the rocket attacks, nor because Hamas was deemed a "terrorist group" (afterall history has shown that Israel negotiated with the formerly labelled terrorist group, PLO) but because it would have been perceived by people (especially Arab people) as having been forced by Hamas' militant stance. And that would not have bode well for Israel's future security - a country surrounded by a sea of Arab neighbors. Already Israel believes that the net effect of Israel's pull-out from Lebanon in 2006 was to embolden Hamas who had hoped to emulate Hezbollah's achievements in that regard.

Israel was widely perceived to have lost its teeth - and indeed the defeat in Lebanon showed the limits to the Israeli military. Compound that perception with the rise of Hamas in Gaza, who had effectively solidified its position in the past two years.

The Israeli military operations then aim to accomplish three objectives (1) the forcible weakening (or removal) of Hamas (2) demonstrating the might of the Israeli military (3) re-establishing Israel's deterrent power by signaling to Arab nations that Israel can act militarily under the frame of defense (or war on terror) if it chooses to, and it will not be reined in by the world.

How can Israel benefit from achieving the objectives above? Firstly, it re-establishes Israel to a position of power. Second, peace or cease-fire negotiations with the remmants of Hamas (whoever is left standing after the war) and the PA in West Bank would now be acceptable to Israel since it would be stemming from its renewed position of power, and also because Hamas would not be in a position to dictate terms, weakened as it is. The underlying assumption would be that the civilian population would be war-weary enough to support opportunities for peace, even if under terms that are undesirable. Already efforts are underway to turn the Gaza civilian population against Hamas - recordings, such as this one as reported on CNN, are played in phone calls to Gaza civilians:"Urgent message, warning to the citizens of Gaza. Hamas is using you as human shields. Do not listen to them. Hamas has abandoned you and are hiding in their shelters."

This assumption can backfire though because the Israeli operations have not discriminated between Hamas and the civilian population. Besides Hamas has had a track record of providing for the Gaza civilian population, and beleaguering Hamas might sway people to their side.

Still, any peace process (or any ceasefire agreement or truce) would likely be pushed by the world community under the guidance of the new Obama administration, compelled by the horrors of the recent war. But any peace that ensues from such an agreement though may be short-lived, especially if the terms are overtly favoring one party over another. And as a new generation of Palestinians form, the cycle of violence may begin once more.

A hefty price for strategizing toward the short-term gains.